Recently, I was asked what seemed like a simple question. “How do you choose your assignments?”
Honestly, that question has never crosses my mind. But perhaps subconsciously I ask myself that question every day. The more I thought about that question, the more fundamental the answer became. My somewhat delayed immediate response was, “I don’t choose the assignments I do, I chose the images in my portfolio.”
A well composed portfolio really is the cornerstone of any creative professional. That’s what I love about art. That’s what I love about photography. The work speaks in ways the artist doesn’t need to. In many ways visual artists don’t need to say anything. What’s the point of using words to capture the image you couldn’t capture with your camera?
Most of the new assignments I do are a direct result of my portfolio. When I get an email or a phone call I’m not asked where I went to school, what kind of degree I have, what kind of lights or camera I use but rather, “We came across this one image in your portfolio, can we see a few others like it?” and “Can you do the same for us?”
My immediate answer always is yes.
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The value of personal work
So, the other day I’m lounging around and thinking about the value of personal. The value it brings to me, and to my clients.
One rainy Sunday morning I was sitting at my computer and had this drive to shoot something that would allow me experiment. I grabbed my lighting gear and headed to my parents house, (garage more specifically.) The spontaneous plan was to shoot my brother with his guitar and maybe invite his drummer buddy and shoot them together. I thought I’d capture them in a cluttered garage like the garage band they are. However, with such a short notice his friend couldn’t make it. This idea wasn’t epic, it was just an open ended idea. I knew that through trial and error creativity would lead from one thing to another to the third and forth and hopefully to something visually interesting.
A few weeks later I was shooting high school player of the year all stars in a make shift studio vs. on location. I immediately knew there was one shot I wanted to recreate. It originated during this personal project and now was super easy to recreate. The deadline to create these images was supper tight… they literally had to be shot in minutes.
The lighting set-up, composition, post-production and so on, all came out of this self assigned, self inspired personal project. Chances are if you grab your gear and shoot an open ended project, you’ll gain skills that can become very valuable. This new knowledge may not come to fruition tomorrow or even in a week; however, one day you will have your back against the wall and many eyes burning at your back. This will the perfect time for you to keep your cool and fall back on your experience gained from that self assigned personal project.
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