A portfolio says more than a stream of thousand photos

A portfolio page. Why is it so important? The answer to that is easy. It is like a self-curated gallery that shows some hand picked photos to make a certain impression or show your special topics. You can´t do that on sites like flickr or instagram. There is too much distraction. At the moment I am working on my new portfolio page. That means that you have to think of a own domain name and a template that is optimal to present your images the right way without being to fancy or technical, because the content counts.

your portfolio-wall?
Think of your personal photographer webpage as a good way to practice constraint and simpleness. How can you reduce your work to a small selection of images and written lines. What counts? What is the inner core of your work and what are the topics or the projects you want to show to the world. It is like to hang some of your work on a wall to show it to the public. You have to go through a similar process of sorting and reducing. At the end you have a visual extract of your work that reflects the whole bandwidth of your creativity. Such a webpage is also good for yourself. I always browse through my own stuff like reading a diary. You get new ideas by looking at your back catalog. Maybe you see connections between different images that lead to new projects.

Try to create a page that is perfect for you. Don´t do it for someone else. It is your artwork. Look for some honest critique of other photographers and friends. Did they understand your point of view? Is it usable?

Just start with it now and bear in mind that creating a portfolio-page is also like cleaning up your flat: You will not only end up with a tidy place. You will maybe find some things that inspire you or find yourself rearranging the furniture. It is the process that leads to new things.

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