The Review

2 Peter 1:10 (Contemporary English Version)

¹⁰My friends, you must do all you can to show that God has really chosen and selected you. If you keep on doing this, you won't stumble and fall.

The portfolio review is one of the tensest times for most photographers. Most everyone we show our work to is someone we would like to work with and therefore anything less than I would like to use you is disappointing on some level. You are exposing your soul for review.

Some photographers have devised great presentations which help package their portfolio’s so the editor can see the images, know the skill of the photographer, how they see and have little trouble visualizing how it would look in their publication.

In photography there are generally stages of development. At Southwestern Photojournalism Conference Gary Fong and Jeanie Adams-Smith reviewed on stage three different photographers: student, pro with less than five years of experience and pro with more than five years of experience.

Gary asked how long they had been shooting and with the student he said this is good for your experience, if you had been shooting another year, not so good. With the seasoned professional photojournalist Gary and Jeanie both agreed the work was professional and technically superb. They wanted to see more intimacy in seasoned photographers work. They pointed to one photo which was a slice of life where the viewer feels like they are part of the experience and how much superior this was to the rest of his work.

At some point for the Christian photojournalist the shaft of God’s light shines brightly on you and reveals how your portfolio is a reflection of you. Are you personable? Do you get your hands dirty and into others lives? Jeanie Adams-Smith talked to one of the photographers how their photos showed their ability to get dirty.

My mentor Don Rutledge had two skills which I admired about his photography. The photo makes you feel like you are in the room with the subjects. The other skill was how Don could make the most cluttered environment coherent and beautiful. While these are excellent they were only framework for the content of most all of his photos—love. You would see straight into the subject’s situations and feel compassion for them or joy from what they were doing.

Our portfolios must “show God has really chosen and selected” us. We must do everything technically the best it can be and then we need to have our father’s eyes. We need to pray God will help us see his children as he sees them.

Photojournalism at its best is about relationships. It shows mankind interacting with one another. By doing this at our best then the world will begin to see the world as God desires and the world will know you are his disciple.

John 13:34-35 (Contemporary English Version)

³⁴But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you. ³⁵If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.

John 17:21 (Contemporary English Version)

²¹I want all of them to be one with each other, just as I am one with you and you are one with me. I also want them to be one with us. Then the people of this world will believe that you sent me.