Creating an Online Portfolio

PHOTO CHALLENGE | Take time this month to go through your photos and choose the images that best represent what you want to be shooting right now.

Choose the website platform of your choice and start bringing your photos together to share a digital portfolio of your work.

It’s crucial to be intentional and narrow down your options to those that are the very best.

A digital portfolio is a powerful way to showcase your photography to others, as well as how much you’ve accomplished over the years. With photography, it’s common to display your work in a beautiful and accessible manner. A portfolio is an effective and relatively inexpensive way for artists to share their work and personality.

It’s important to know that you should NOT try to share everything, no matter how much you love what you’ve captured on camera. Intention is everything and is truly paramount during this curation phase of building and designing your portfolio.

Speaking of designing, it’s no secret that we’re photographers–not designers–yet, unless we’re reading to invest about a grand on custom work, you need to get your intention in line and think hard about what matters most to you and how you want it displayed. Unless you’re ready invest in a designer (I have affordable recommendations if you’re interested, just let me know), you need to find a website that offers aesthetic templates that fit your style.

While it can be tempting to add all of your work into a portfolio, it’s important to remember its intent: To show how talented you are as quickly as possible (the average attention span is about 3 seconds to determine whether it’s worth it to stay or go when visiting someone’s portfolio). Start designing your portfolio by looking at all the work you’ve done, then choose your favorite pieces and the work you’ve gotten the most positive feedback for.

Next, diversify your options and choose examples that show a full range of your abilities. This way, the reader is able to see your adaptability and creativity. However, it’s important to not select things that don’t have any through-lines and thus, throw the viewer off and feel like your work is disjointed and messy.

If you haven’t created a logo or name for yourself, consider using Canva to create something simple yet representative of you and your style. Don’t feel like you have a style? Well, look at your photographs, what stands out the most? Look around your home, what do you notice there? What do you gravitate toward in photography?

Validating your purpose to create an online portfolio:

  • Show off and easily display and access your best work.

  • Display your services or products (if applicable).

  • Showcase the work you want to be hired for more of.

  • Allow people to book you.

  • Show up prepared for an interview if you’re looking for work in the industry.

  • Gain recognition.

  • Have a space of ownership where you control your work and the platform it’s on.

Creating an inspiring space:

  • Choose a name for yourself

    • Use your own name to represent your work, or choose something easy to pronounce, is identifiable, and will last for years to come.

  • Choose a host platform

    • I’m a fan of Squarespace as it’s one of the more user-friendly sites I’ve used, but there are several others to consider such as: Wix, SmugMug, Zenfolio, Site123, WordPress, and many more.

  • Choosing a theme

    • There will be many theme options to choose from. Ensure that the style you choose best fits your style. Simple is best.

Building your portfolio:

  • When you’ve dedicated your time to building your portfolio/website, you’ll hope for some sort of response, feedback, or anything to happen next. You won’t immediately get booked for shoots or generate income, unfortunately, that will all take time.