If you purchased a Alumni Portfolio Review Ticket, here is a list suggestions on how to prepare your portfolio as well as general etiquette and tips to ensure your review experience is as positive, productive, and successful as possible.

THINGS TO CONSIDER: 

1. Your portfolio should be a complete body of work with a solid vision (15-20 prints). You may consider bringing alternate portfolios and examples of other work if you want, but your primary presentation should be a unified and cohesive body of work.

2. Package your portfolio such that you can carry it, open it, show it, and put it away with minimum fuss. Simple clamshell portfolio boxes are one festival favorite. 

3. Research the reviewers as best you can before you show up at the portfolio reviews, and honestly assess which reviewers are the best fit for your work. Keep in mind that some of the best insight may come from someone whose work is much different than your own. Be open.

4. Always be courteous to the reviewers and your fellow photographers. 

5. Respect the 20 minute time slot you have for showing your work and be ready to move on when your time is up. Some overlap is inevitable; however, when the 5 minute warning is called start wrapping it up. If there is more to be said, quickly request an appointment to meet afterwards: if the interest is there an additional meeting will happen. 

6. Consider bringing leave-behinds for the reviewers; make sure that it includes all of your contact information. Bring plenty of extras as you will probably want to give some to your fellow photographers as well. 

7. Take notes after your reviews and follow up with reviewers when you return home.

8. In the past people have been disappointed when a speaker or reviewer doesn't respond to their first email directly after the event. Please gracious and allow them (and yourself) time to recoup after the event. Also remember that fortune favors the persistent. Often people don't reply because they forget, not because they didn't want to or plan to.

PREPARING YOUR PORTFOLIO:

The two most frequently asked questions are how do I present my portfolio and what size should my prints be? 

How do I present my portfolio? 

The most popular way to present your work is loose prints (matted or not) inside of a portfolio box. Some mat their work, some have protective mylar envelopes over their prints, some simply have a nice stack of naked prints. If your prints are the same dimension and reasonably flat, then nicely stacked in the same size box is an excellent way to go. If you’re showing book dummies to publishers and the like, you can have your prints bound into a book. In general, reviewers like to see the actual prints. 

What size should my prints be? 

The short answer is: if you can carry it, you can show it. The most common sizes are in the range of  8x10” to 12x15”. People do bring extra large work, but then you have logistics to work out (can you carry it easily to the reviews, and carry it from table to table easily?). Of course, people also bring very small prints and everything in between. Primarily you need to be able to open up your portfolio and show it to the reviewer quickly and efficiently.