Custom Portfolio Development Workshop

One of the hardest things to do as a photographer is edit your work to a cohesive collection of the best and most fitting images, whether it be to support a single theme, single project or the best representations of your work.

If you are a serious photographer, here is a chance for you to walk home with a beautifully hand-crafted, hand-printed, and carefully curated fine art portfolio that will show off your work to the highest standard in the industry.

Selecting images for a portfolio is difficult, but critically important. People naturally judge our work by what they see, so we must invest a lot of time in making selections. Frustratingly, we often spend too much time on images that we never should mess with in the first place! Editing an image to death is not the solution to developing your portfolio. Image selection, what we call curation, is the Number One priority. And in this workshop, you will learn to master that aspect of your art, as well as other critical skills.

Lester Picker’s portfolio workshop was a terrific photographic experience. He and Bob expertly use the time to teach us editing, sequencing and Lightroom skills that combined with their printing and creative input enabled us to produce beautiful portfolios that reflected our work in the best possible way!

Jim Harris

A Customized Solution

For the past 15 years we have offered a 3-day workshop by Moab Master Photographer Les Picker and Master Printer/Designer Robert Boyer. That workshop is limited to four participants. Our experience has taught us that some photographers cannot carve out this time away from home, especially when travel is involved.

To accommodate photographers, we have a highly customized, individualized solution for busy photographers anywhere in the world (English language required). Our Customized Portfolio Development Workshop is designed for single individuals. The end goal is identical to our 4-person workshop. With the help of today’s communication options, we are able to offer this on an individual basis using Zoom and other technologies.

You will learn the art of self-critique, curation, self-editing, sequencing, story-telling and more through your images. At the end of this experience you will proudly own a hand-made, cloth-covered, boxed portfolio showcasing ten of your finest images, offered in an elegant, state-of-the-art presentation and designed to advance your photographic goals.

The Bottom Line

One of the hardest things to do as a photographer is self-edit your work to a cohesive collection of the best and most fitting images, whether it be to support a single theme, single project or the best representations of your work.

Top Takeaways From This Workshop

• Two-on-one consultation with two experienced, successful, professional photographers to help you curate and edit your work
• Help defining your photographic goals and aspirations
• Assistance selecting and post-processing your best images
• Fresh perspectives on your own work and how to make effective editorial decisions
• Learn numerous strategies for dealing with your own editorial process
• A process of considered dialog with with two serious, passionate and successful professional artists
• Develop contacts for editorial assistance going forward
• Experience the value of outside editorial input on your work
• Understand how the editorial process can shape your art in your future work
• Ten archival prints professionally printed on Moab fine art papers, using state-of-the-art Canon printers
• Distinctive, cloth-covered portfolio box, hand crafted in the USA
• Follow-up support

What serious photographer does not realize he or she needs to have a professional portfolio to show friends, family, potential clients, gallerists, or to peruse for their own enjoyment?

A professionally curated portfolio is essential for success as a serious photographer in today’s hyper-competitive market. Images come alive when carefully selected, meticulously edited and printed on fine art, archival paper. Viewers appreciate the look and feel of museum quality prints.

Yet, in our experience we have found that the majority of photographers either do not have a printed portfolio to showcase their art, or the one they use is actually detrimental to their success. Unfortunately, photographic portfolios are often poorly planned, poorly curated, and even more poorly executed.

If you are a serious photographer, here is a chance for you to showcase your art in a beautifully hand-crafted, professionally-printed, and carefully curated fine art portfolio that will show off your work to the highest standard in the industry today.

As a relatively new photographer I tend to focus on invoking an emotion or feeling in a specific image. However, I am finding the true story can only be expressed in a carefully curated and edited portfolio of images. So if you are interested in learning a very thoughtful process for objectively assessing your images and finding the “true story” — Les and Bob’s workshop is definitely for you! They are both masters in their professions and are passionate in conveying their experience. They have definitely have been big contributors to the development of my photographic skills.

Jeff Wagoner, MI

Image Curation

Selecting images for a portfolio is difficult, but critically important. People naturally judge our work by what they see, so we must invest a lot of time in making selections. Frustratingly, we often spend too much time on images that we never should mess with in the first place! Editing an image to death is not the solution to developing your portfolio. Image curation is the highest priority. In this workshop, you will learn to master that skill to advance your art.

And how do we know when an image is portfolio worthy? Is it the number of “likes” we receive online? Hardly. On social media people most often say nothing as they flick through images a second at a time. Maybe they’ll hit the like button here and there. But, what does that tell you? Nothing, really. Social media is simply not a good tool.

What about online photography forums? The Internet is an amazing tool, but not great for developing a portfolio. Every image can be critiqued to death, until there is no emotion left in it. Honest, trusted feedback doesn’t exist on the Internet, unless you are fortunate to have developed a one-on-one relationship with an experienced and respected photographer. The internet at large is just not appropriate for crafting a cohesive portfolio that represents a project, a story, or a style of one’s photographic work.

Our Process: The Value We Bring to You

Critique should be productive, ultimately producing the best collection of images. Emotional attachment to one’s own imagery clouds every photographer’s judgment. Our process provides you with the combined judgment of Bob and Les, mastered through decades of experience and professional success. Through our process you will gain self-confidence and understand the elements of solid portfolio development using professional critique to ensure you are showcasing excellence in your work.

Les and Bob are experts in different types of photography. Les is a nature, landscape and wildlife artist, while Bob is a studio photographer and master printer. In their twenty years of working together, they often differ in their opinions about an image. They respectfully challenge each other, knowing that the passionate effort they put into it results in far higher artistic levels.

Norm Arnold, NM

That commitment to excellence is at the heart of our process. We start with a guided discussion and clarification of your photographic strengths, goals and aspirations. You will then share with us up to 50 of your top images so we can gain insights into your photography. We will work with you to strengthen the selection, perhaps revise it, develop a theme or otherwise improve this initial selection. We then help you to curate the remaining photographs to refine and tighten those to 25-30 of your best. The final portfolio of 10 prints can be thematic, project oriented, or a “best of” collection, with the specific aim of bringing you closer to your photographic goals.

We will provide you with detailed feedback and will discuss the curation with you by email, phone and Zoom meetings. We will ship the finished portfolio directly to you anywhere in the world that has an established postal system or third-party delivery (UPS, FedEx, DHL). If you are local to our studio we can arrange an in-person visit to receive your finished portfolio.

Your Professional Portfolio

We firmly believe that every aspect of your portfolio should reflect your best work, with attention to detail. That is why we have our portfolio boxes individually made by hand in the USA by expert craftsmen. These cloth-covered portfolios are works of art in their own right. Our attention to detail will exceed your highest expectations.

Helping you curate your images to the best ten images, is only part of the self-editing experience. We structure those discussions with you so that they are a positive and affirming experience and provide you with a template for utilizing positive professional critique in your future endeavors.

We work side-by-side with you sharing insights, techniques, and Lightroom methods to finalize your selections while getting the most out of Lightroom. We also offer one-on-one assistance to post-process your images so that they shine. By the end of the experience, you will have a portfolio that you can rightfully showcase with pride.

We print your images on large format, 13“ x 19” fine art, museum-quality paper by world-renowned Moab Fine Art Paper. We print using state-of-the-art large format printers by Canon, using archival inks. We add artistic finishing touches, giving you a beautiful, professional portfolio.

We will also help you to understand how to best utilize your portfolio to improve your professional image, represent yourself to galleries and editors, increase sales, showcase your art to family and friends, and find your audience. Previous participants have used their portfolios to find their first group exhibitions, solo exhibitions, published books, and editorial assignments.

You will leave with your professional, hand-made portfolio and with the knowledge of how to use it and update it to keep it current.

How To Begin This Process

Prepare for a focused effort for 3 - 4 months based on our time-tested process. Make sure you are able to allocate time over those months to:

• Complete assignments that you will receive from us
• Participate in 4 - 5 audio/video sessions
• Evaluate and respond to 4 - 5 written critiques

After receiving your deposit we will promptly contact you with the next steps and additional details.

About Us

Lester Picker (www.lesterpickerphoto.com) has more than 650 writing and photo credits in National Geographic Society publications, Better Homes & Gardens, Forbes, Time, Inc. Publications, Money, Fortune Small Business, Bloomberg Personal Finance, National Parks Magazine, and dozens of newspapers, magazines and other publications. He is a former reporter, photojournalist and editor. Les is a Moab Master photographer, Awagami International Ambassador, and is lauded for his fine art printing and his workshops. Les was awarded the prestigious Canada Northern Lights Award for Best Travel Photographer.

Robert Boyer is a master printer and oversees all fine art printing and design for LPFA. He is an experienced studio photographer and workshop presenter.

Cancellation & Extension policy

You may cancel your participation up to 60 days prior to the first session with Les and Bob and receive a full refund. Due to the individualized nature of this workshop, we are unable to provide any refund beyond the “60-days-prior” allowance. If there is some reason that you need to pause the workshop process where the total time is more than 5 months from the date of our first session there will be an additional fee to restart the process.

Date
Register year round for a schedule that meets your needs.

Total Price
$3,250 USD

Notes
Learn the art of self-critique. Create a hand-made, cloth-covered, boxed portfolio showcasing ten of your finest images.

PUBLISHED FROM HAVRE DE GRACE MARYLAND
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Copyright © Les Picker Fine Art Photography 2018