Most of us, I feel sure, organize our portfolios—whether loosely or formally—by subject. Living on the coast for the past 45 years, I have thousands of images of sunrises and sunsets over sea and sound, lighhouses, piers, fishing boats, dunescapes, pelicans, and shorebirds. But this isn’t a program about organization per se—though I could sure use more of that myself!
Years ago I read an article in Outdoor Photographer magazine in which African photographer Andy Biggs described how he reframed his portfolio and his photographic experience by applying emotional labels to his images, rather than subject labels. As both a life-long writer and photographer, I know how our words matter. The idea of describing photos emotionally gave me immediate ideas to challenge myself to create fresh images when out in the field.
My program touches on Andy Biggs’ philosophy and provides examples from my own work to show how a broad portfolio of subjects can be powerfully synthesized into a few emotional responses, giving viewers solid ideas for examining their own work through a new conceptual framework and inspiring the creation of more powerful, intentional imagery.