Tips on entering a call for entry

Last month I posted this on photographylot. I thought I would also include it here for those who didn't have a chance to read it.

I was recently a juror on a photography portfolio panel for a national scholarship organization. It was an eye-opening experience being "on the otherside" and seeing how our own work might be evaluated when we apply to galleries or for grants or even just apply for a job. I learned quite a bit and thought I'd share some tips with you. Some of these are painfully obvious but it never hurts to repeat them, right?

Essentially I spent all day in a dark room with a group of photographers and photo-related professionals and we were given the task of viewing over 3000+ images. Of those images, only 5% were chosen for further consideration.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

All the images were judged on originality, technical skill and the emergence of an artistic voice.

1. Edit. Then edit. Then when you're done editing, edit some more. Some of the projects I saw had great individual photos but the editing was poor and those were rejected.

2. The image itself is the most important. Judges were more forgiving of technical "mistakes" or even sloppiness or lack of skill if the image itself was strong.

3. Body of work
Only show one body of work. Don't try to show versatility in style or technique. Be consistent. The judges wanted to see a singular vision. Even if we didn't agree on the message of the work or if we didn't like individual images, the portfolios were still placed in the next round if the overall body of work was strong.

Show your singular vision by exploring an idea fully. Some portfolios showed the genesis on an idea but didn't explore it and those were rejected.

4. Unlike what conventional wisdom would dictate, try to place most, if not all, your stronger images in the front or beginning of your portfolio. While this sounds counterintuitive, the reality of judging so many portfolios meant that many were not viewed fin their entirety. For example, the portfolios each contained 8 images each. If the judges did not like the series by the fourth image, the entire series was dismissed and we moved on to the next.

5. Engage the audience emotionally.
Some portfolios were technically competent and consistent and overall
they were "fine" but left us emotionally flat. Those were the first to get dismissed.

Hope this was helpful. If you have any thoughts to add please let me know.