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Portfolio Anonymous
Dear /p/.

Im 17 and planning to attend college for photography. Tomorrow I have a portfolio review in new york, check out my portfolio here and tell me what you think.

http://flickr.com/photos/jcasalena/sets/72157602777105005/

Those are the low res versions, my portfolio consists of 11x14 prints of all these photos.
>> Anonymous
What is this shit?
>> Anonymous
The pictures have no meaning. Your portfolio will fail. Enjoy.
>> Anonymous
>>98469

Please show me an example of a picture with "meaning" then. Thanks
>> Anonymous
Personally I think most of your photos are pretty good.
>> Anonymous
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>>98472
>> Anonymous
>>98475

Thanks, Ill try to model my pictures after this.
>> Anonymous
These are surprisingly good shots for a point and shoot albeit an advanced one. Once again proves that the camera does not make the photographer.
>> Anonymous
lol macro shots

also lol playing with water
>> Anonymous
>>98481

Thanks. I really want to buy a Nikon DSLR but I cant afford it right now :\
>> Anonymous
>>98482

Food dye and water to be fair :P
>> Anonymous
>>98487
Were you LOOKING to make your portfolio filled with crappy amateur cliches?
>> Butterfly !xlgRMYva6s
<3 /p/

doing what i love 24hrs a day
>> Anonymous
Is it really that bad :\
>> Anonymous
>>98490
Technically it's not bad, things are in focus and the exposure looks good. But the cropping is very hit or miss and dear god the subject matter.
>> slim !yE5LOsLjxQ
OP, these pictures are very technically excellent. you're making great use of shape and form and line and color and so on. every one of them is pleasant to look at.
>>98469
what this faggot means to say is that, without exception, all of these photos are extremely artistically insipid. he only said you will fail because he's jealous he can't shoot with such technical greatness like this, and he only said they have no 'meaning' because he hasn't passed 11th grade english yet.

these shots are all exciting and stimulating to look at -- for about 10 seconds. once i get over the novelty of looking at a cool thing close up, i become immediately tired of the photo as a whole, and ultimately bored. none of these have any staying power. think of it like this: me looking at these shots is like a kid playing with a toy. like, let's say a super soaker. sure, it's great fun. it's a good toy. it's built well and i want to use it. but after a while it's like "okay so it gets people wet. what else is there to do around here?" in the same way, i look at your shots and eventually say to myself something along the lines of "okay, so the orange has a knife in it. so what?"

i am initially pleased by this collection, and then soon after bored. it leaves me with nothing to consider; nothing to think about. that's what you need to work on.

also, macro shots lol and playing with water lol. don't use these as crutches. it's a little cheap and very cliché.
>> Anonymous
>>98494

The idea is that most of the subject matter is extremely ordinary. Thats the focus of my work, making extremely ordinary things appear interesting.
>> Anonymous
>>98497
that's what everyone who just gets into photography does. how many fucking photographs of smoke, bugs and water have you seen? Yours are not remarkable and no more interesting than the other thousands.

>>98496
Don't pull the jealous card, that's stupid and usually incorrect, also proves how lame you are. I'm not that person you are saying that about but PLEASE, grow up.
>> Anonymous
>>98496

Thanks for the extremely constructive criticism, unlike the other 12 year olds in this thread. I'll definitely take this into consideration.
>> Anonymous
>>98500
lol 12 year olds, please to be getting over your self.
>> Anonymous
>>98500

Don't forget to slit your wrists too, you crybaby limp-wristed faggot.
>> Anonymous
>>98502

What exactly am I crying about you stupid faggot? I'm just saying thanks for a piece of constructive criticism. Idiots saying "PHOTOS SUK, U FAIL" don't help me at all.
>> Anonymous
>>98504

Kill yourself, faggot. DO IT. The world will be better just as soon as you bleed out.
>> Anonymous
Also...
Underage B&
>> Anonymous
Also, for everyone saying these are shitty, please post some of your own photos so I can see what true art is :)
>> Liska !!LIVFOETqL8j
>>98509

welcome to 4chan. You truly, honestly expected constructive criticism on here...?
>> Anonymous
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DO IT, FAGGOT.
>> heavyweather !4AIf7oXcbA
This isn't a portfolio as much as it's a collection of single images, mostly banal. There's nothing in here that I haven't seen somewhere else before, done better.

Imitation is certainly a part of photography, as you've got to start somewhere, but you don't have even the slightest strand of unity to connect these wildly different images together. A school doesn't want to see that you can do 15 different things, all poorly. They'd rather see the same thing, or two things, done several times, with differing results and indicators about your devotion to the artform. Get some commonality in your portfolio, let your own creative expression come out rather than copying everyone else's. But maybe for an undergrad, this stuff will be good enough, I guess. I'm coming at this from the perspective of someone already in a photography program, thinking about building a portfolio for a job, a grant, a contest, graduate school, etc.

tl;dr-- start over, be yourself, work on projects, not single images. Technically fine, but artistically weak, and it won't make any impression on a serious panel or jury.
>> Anonymous
>>98509
How is that relevant? Not showing our photos doesn't make the opinion less valid dipshit.

Also, lol I'm sure most art critics can't make art, but you think their opinions don't count? It's about how everyone views your photos, not just other photographers. Widen your viewpoint fag.
>> Anonymous
Okay, while I do agree that some of my ideas have been done before such as food dye in water, I do think you guys are exaggerating the fact that ALL of my photos are simply imitations. While I do agree that a few of my photos have been done before, I think you are focusing on the wrong things.
>> Anonymous
these photos are shit. i'm not even kidding. you're 17?

make photos which are different. take pictures of people.
>> Anonymous
>>98517

Awesome advice from a faggot who can't even form a proper English sentence. Why are they shit? Please explain.
>> Anonymous
>>98516
lol you're 17~~ just get b& already

don't get so high and mighty. photography is a difficult medium to be original in.
also, focusing on the wrong things? in the real world people focus on the NEGATIVE things, photography is judged harsher as well because it is associated with commercialism and being a part of ~the real world~ where as a lot of other media is left up to interpretation and can be talked up to ignore glaring errors (even if it is BS).
>> Anonymous !MjcMqTX/iM
They're all nice shots, but most of them are rather cliché to be honest. Food dye and water is very overdone (Heck, even I did that!) Water in glass, smoke, But, the worst of them all? A sunset! I strongly suggest you take it out of there and do not even show it. It isn't even a really good sunset anyhow (Rather boring if you ask me.) Some others, like Defy, aren't very unoriginal, but are just plain boring to look at, and falls in the category "look what I've got on my desk!". Bugs in macro aren't thát cliché, and I quite like the way you did the fly. In Red however doesn't do anything for me. (Selective saturation, in general, doesn't work. ) The moth is, well, just indeed a moth on your window. It shows. Nothing special.
Why do I bother writing this? Because I do see potential. Tar, Still, and Closure are nice. (I'd crop a little more off the left of Tar, but that's more personal taste I think.)
Also, drop the pretentious names. They really add nothing to the picture, they only seem to make it worse. (A lot.)
From your gallery though, there are a lot of photographs that are a lot better then your portfolio selection. It looks to me like you selected the artsyfartsypretentious pictures for your real portfolio. Below, Fall roads, Colored Gravity, Dawn of Fall are all quite nice. (Heck, even the mother+child picture in food dye is wayy more awesome then those you selected for your portfolio.)

There's a lot of pictures of experiments in there, technical experiments, as it looks. The content doesn't really seem to matter. Try to work on the content of your photographs, which is the most important thing of all.
>> Anonymous
>>98516
So...You come to 4chan asking for constructive criticism, then try to defend your faggotry when you get it?

gb2flickr
>> Anonymous
>>98518
are you kidding me? picking on grammar on 4chan? where the fuck do you think you are? step away from the computer, get a grip and come back to 4chan when you lighten up
>> Anonymous
If you are 17 you should be taking pictures of 17 year old girls you know. I give you a solid gold guarantee they will be more interesting.
>> Anonymous
>>98523

Thanks for the advice. The titles dont matter, they wont appear in the actual portfolio. I actually did take the sunset photo out of the physical portfolio.
>> Anonymous
>>98524

The only thing I was saying is that I disagree with the people saying "all of your photos are unoriginal and cliche".
>> Anonymous
>>98529
of course you disagree, you took the pictures and are proud enough to post them on the internets.
you're very wrong though
>> Anonymous
>>98529

Are you stupid? Do you never look at any other photos? They are the bog standard types for wannabe art fags. The whole portfolio screams "cliché" to the viewer.
>> Anonymous !MjcMqTX/iM
>>98516
I'm afraid most of them are right though.
You can't decide what the viewer will focus on, same goes for the ones that will look through your portfolio. There really shouldn't be anything at all, that has obviously been done better before. If you knew that some have been done before, then don't put them in your port.
>> Anonymous !MjcMqTX/iM
Oh, and you need to work on handling critics. You suck at that.
I'd say try and get new prints from others from your gallery, and dump all the food dye / quarter / defy / glisten pictures and such.
>> Anonymous
Fuck them, they look great.
>> Anonymous
>>98538
lol hai OP
>> Anonymous
>>98539

Wasnt me, however this is me, you guys are faggots.
>> Anonymous
why go to college and major in photography? That really doesn't make a lot of sense.
>> Anonymous
>>98541
lolololol oh we were so tooollldd.

ITT butthurt OP
>> Anonymous
>>98543

Because I would like to make a career out of it and use college as a launch pad for meeting people in the field, getting my work out, expanding my portfolio etc
>> Anonymous
>>98529
Jesus, don't fucking ask people to tell you what they think about your work if you can't handle some criticism.

I mean face it, do you really believe that you're doing anything special with those photos?
A orange with a knife in it, a macro shot of a fly, a sunset. You're barely even experimenting with your camera there. It really just seems as if you're a kid playing with a toy. Mess around with light, subject matter, and please shoot something else besides a macro shot, especially if this is for your portfolio.
>> Anonymous
You need more variety for a portfolio. Go outside and shoot things unique to your surroundings. It wouldn't hurt to shoot something living ya know?
>> Anonymous
>>98550

The bee was alive :)
>> slim !yE5LOsLjxQ
>>98523
>>98512
>>98500
>>98496
>>98463
these are the only posts this thread needs. especially mine and heavyweather's.
>> Anonymous
>>98552

Agreed.
>> Anonymous
>>98552
you need to get off of 4chan too tripfag
>> confag !LOhQUVBxCE
I'm in your situation, OP. I'm 18 and hoping to do this someday professionally.

Photography is, from what I've gathered, the art of being in the right place at the right time and being ready. Stop taking studio shots and start taking action shots. You've got the talent, you're just taking the wrong pictures.

Then again, I might be totally wrong. Maybe redundant studio photos are a good thing.
>> Anonymous
>>98558

Interesting, I'll keep that in mind. I'd like to look at some of your work if thats possible?
>> Butterfly !xlgRMYva6s
>>98558
Photojournolisim and sports is yes.
>> elf_man !!DdAnyoDMfCe
A lot of your stuff is more or less abstract art. Most people won't like abstract art. Especially with photography, where the culture emphasizes important photojournalism as good photography. Like the post that said "make photos which are different. take pictures of people." Well I find that most people pictures, especially "street photography" tends to look the same. Just like how all the flower macros are different, but end up kind of blurring together. Really, everything has been done to death. Odds are, you won't find anything truly unique, so keep doing what you like to do, but don't let yourself stagnate. If you like studio macro work like you've been doing, great, keep at it, but make sure to push yourself. Of course, working on other subjects and styles can help you gain perspective and give you new inspiration for your preferred style. Considering what's in your flickr, in terms of a profession maybe you could look into product photography.
>> confag !LOhQUVBxCE
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>>98559
I don't see the need for it, but here's one of my shots.

I keep my camera with me wherever I can, and I usually only take photos out of opportunity. In this one, the subject was turning to see where a loud BANG came from while he was fishing.

Camera-Specific Properties:Equipment MakeFUJIFILMCamera ModelFinePix S9100Camera SoftwareDigital Camera FinePix S9100 Ver1.00Maximum Lens Aperturef/2.8Sensing MethodOne-Chip Color AreaImage-Specific Properties:Horizontal Resolution240 dpiVertical Resolution240 dpiImage Created2007:09:25 10:54:33Exposure Time1/110 secF-Numberf/4.9Exposure ProgramNormal ProgramISO Speed Rating400Lens Aperturef/4.9Brightness5.1 EVExposure Bias0 EVMetering ModePatternLight SourceUnknownFlashNo Flash, CompulsoryFocal Length66.70 mmRenderingCustomExposure ModeAutoWhite BalanceAutoScene Capture TypeStandardContrastNormalSaturationNormalSharpnessNormalSubject Distance RangeDistant View
>> Anonymous
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unfortunatly they are all very "samey"
yes they have been taken well, but there is nothing to make these mudane things say anything more than "this guy can take an arty photo"
if you want to have an interesting job as a photographer you had better get some ideas and start taking pictures that people will want to look at again and again.
pic related
>> Liquefied !!CF1+3tSFCce
>>98463
What are you going to school for? Advertising/Illustration? Documentary/Photojournalism? Fine Art?

Your portfolio is leaning in the direction of advertising/illustration and I think it's a fine example of that.
>> Anonymous
>>98563
i concur
>> Anonymous
>>98566

Fine art.
>> Liquefied !!CF1+3tSFCce
>>98569
So you want to be a gallery artist?
>> Anonymous
dude drop it. there's purely nothing going on in your pictures. you really should face the fact that you wont get a living from photography. you may take some band photos or artsy faggothry photos which dont mean a thing but you really cant make a living with it. sorry to crack up your dream faggot but tough life.
>> Anonymous
>>98589

I would like to move my art in this direction, yes
>> Liska !!LIVFOETqL8j
>>98597

just be warned that, very rarely, are artists able to make a living doing this. keep it going, but have an extra source of income on the side. It's going to be tough to carve out a niche for yourself.
>> Anonymous
>>98601

I'm aware, thanks for the advice :)

I might look into doing something like Advertising photography also, i'm young, I still have time to decide :P
>> Anonymous
>>98597

Well you're already pretentious enough to be an art student. Your photos are, however, generally uninteresting and far too similar to each other.
>> Anonymous
>>98604

Heh...I tried to pick some pretty similar photos for my portfolio. I wanted to have a central focus.
>> Anonymous
your focus sucks. nobody will ever be interested in your wannabe-artsy-fartsy-tard non-genuine, mass, seen-before, i-can-do-that-too pictures. you really will not make your ends meet with those kind of pictures. you dont even have the potential. dude, you're seventeen. this is something you will not want to be dealing with. photography. you will end up being penniless and sad artist. you study it for like two years and somehow realise the fact how hard it really sucks. trust me: dont do it.

i have seen it before.