I love showing my work in a portfolio framework. It brings photos to life and gives them a whole new feeling. Finally, you can tell the story you had in mind when taking photos. I enjoy this process a lot, but it wasn’t always that way. Let me explain.
THE PORTFOLIO QUESTION
Since I decided to study communication design in 2012, two hearts have been beating in my chest. Photography was my first love but at one point, I felt this wasn’t all for me. I had a great interest in design, paper, and layouts, so I discovered communication design as a way to combine everything to one degree.
Nevertheless, this worked in theory, but not for me as a … designer? Photographer? Artist? I didn’t know what I was. It showed especially while trying to build a robust portfolio, which gave me headaches. There was one question guiding me through university and beyond: Should I include photography in my design portfolio or not? Or in other words: Do I see myself being a designer as much as being a photographer? There was a faint suspicion of knowing the answer which I couldn’t express at that time.
CHOOSING THE DIRECTION
In my opinion, the answer to this is a matter of self-exploring and positioning yourself in the market. Of course, there is no right and no wrong. What I experienced though, is that this is a question many creatives struggle with: we kind of like all creative crafts, try out a lot, and eventually, have to decide in which direction we’d like to go. This could either mean including multiple skills on purpose or leaving everything behind for the one and only. One might lead to agency thinking, the other might mean becoming an artist for a specific style, or a combination of both.
WHAT FEELS RIGHT FOR NOW
I rarely showed any of my design work and always had this blockade of talking about what I was doing. This led to the fact that I never had a portfolio website for design projects, though I worked 5 years as an employed designer. Looking back, photography has always been the craft I felt most comfortable sharing, and going full-time as a photographer showed me, that this is the craft that feels perfectly right for me at this point in my life. After all, I can focus and enjoy building photography portfolios without the feeling of leaving something out. It’s freeing to know how to talk about my work and what to call myself for now.
That’s it for this issue of The Journal Frame. I hope you enjoyed this insight into my thoughts about who I am as a creative and would love to hear your thoughts on this! If you like, just reply to this mail to chat.
See you soon,
Marvin