Budgeting Portfolios

1) The main way that is most popular when presenting a portfolio would be in a black portfolio case which would contain large prints and sketchbooks. An A3 size would be best suited, as it’s big enough to carry small or larger pieces of work. I looked around at different websites but found at W H Smith there was a leather one for £21.99 which is a fairly priced portfolio. Inside the portfolio, you would also need high quality prints of your own work to present at the University interviews. The best size for the prints would be A3 so that you can get the best quality images to show at your interview. The price for A3 printing is £1.10 for each sheet. 25 images is a good amount to take along to an interview so that you have quite a varied range of images. Altogether this will amount to £27.50 for the printing of the images. Added onto the price of the portfolio, this budget is £49.49 (although the price could vary depending on what portfolio you choose to buy.)

Pros
-Easy to look through 
-Everything is there so it’s easy to keep together                                                                               

Cons
-Could be easily lost/damaged -It’s seen in person
-May not contain everything you want to take along
-Might be heavy to carry around and take to interviews

2) A digital portfolio is another way of presenting your work. For photography purposes this could be a better choice because the portfolio I would be presenting would be of digital images so the online version might be a better way to view them. The cost would be minimal for this. There is nothing that you would need in person for an online portfolio. The cost of a website (e.g. 500px, Wix or WordPress) is free, but if you want to upgrade to improve the look and get better settings from, you would need to pay. This is optional.

Pros
-Cheaper way to present                           
-Presentation is neater
-Less hassle taking to interviews

Cons
-Files could be easily lost                            
-It could look similar to other peoples portfolios 

3) A similar way of presenting to the portfolio would be presenting your images in a neat box. I looked around and found a fairly priced A3 box for £14.99. A3 is the best size because that is the size that I will be printing my portfolio images as it’s a good size to show the quality of the images and what you can do. Including the price of the 25 prints, this budget is £42.49. Compared to the price of the first portfolio, this is a little cheaper but still at a high price.

Pros
-The prints won’t get damaged
-The presentation is neat

Cons
-Images are on a bigger scale
-It is quite expensive to create

My most preferred choice would probably be the 3rd option because this way the images that you print off and all neat and presentable, which shows that you want your images to be presented well. Although the price is quite high for this option, I would still go for this way of presenting because the end product will be worth the price. It looks a lot better than a digital portfolio because it shows that you have gone to effort to present your work in the best possible way.

Summer Jobs

I haven’t had any photography jobs over the summer but I have had experience with taking photographs for people for free and for my purpose for building up a collection/range of images mainly for my portfolio.

My friends had their school prom this summer so I went to each of their houses and took picture of them getting ready and them with friends and family. Although it wasn’t a paid job, I still really enjoyed it and I am able to use them fro my own photography. They also kept the photographs so it makes me glad that they have a copy for memories.

I have a job in a coffee shop and at the moment my photographs are up in the window for sale. For this I went around the town of where I work and took photographs of the streets, people and building mainly for tourists who come to visit, as during the summer it can prove quite popular so I thought it would be a good place to show my pictures. I put my photographs in frames so they look presentable and put a small sticker in the corner with my name and website on there.

Goals and Aspirations

I want to have a future which includes photography, whether that is a job or a favourite hobby of mine. My next step from leaving college is going to University which I have been researching a lot recently. I have chosen to do Photography as a main subject at University. I was looking at other types of photography, but then I realised that I want to carry on Photography at University and not go into a specific type of photography. From University, I would use the Photography degree as a way of hopefully getting myself a full time job in photography. I’ve had a think about becoming a free lance photographer where I would go out myself and try to sell my images independently, this would be something I am interested in. I have realised that I have a favourite interest in Urban Exploration photography. In my own time, I go out to visit urban places where there may be derelict buildings or graffiti to take photographs. I think going to University will make my ideas for the future clearer to me as it will open me up to many other areas in that field of work.