Ian Curcio

1. Just because you shoot something doesn’t mean you have to show it. If you want to market yourself as a commercial photographer and you just shot the best wedding of your life – don’t show it in your portfolio.

2. There is a fine line between being a versatile photographer and the jack-of-all-trades. You don’t have to specialize but don’t let your portfolio be all over the place either.

3. Show the work you want to get hired to shoot even if you have to shoot self assignments to get it. If you show food in your portfolio, you’ll get asked to shoot food. If you show family portraits in your portfolio you’ll get asked to shoot family portraits. Don’t worry, those jobs you don’t like to shoot but pay you, will still come.

4. Don’t self edit, even the best photographers can get emotionally attached to an image that’s not their best. Everyone needs a good editor on their side and it’s not your mom.

5. Be socially active. Use social media. Talk about yourself and your work. Act like you already have the job. Create a blog and update it often with worthy information. What good is it to have a banging portfolio if no one knows about it?

6. Spend the $10 to get a domain name because an online portfolio with yourname.someothershit.com isn’t worth looking through.

7. If you have an iPhone or any smart phone and you’re not carrying your portfolio on it you’re wasting an opportunity to show your work to everyone you meet.

8. A gallery with more than 18 image is too big and less than 8 is too small.

9. Consider having multiple portfolios or Web sites if you have multiple interests.

10. Update often. Don’t be stale. Keep things fresh.

I'll be taking in Richard Ellis' lecture for the SC Chapter of ASMP at The Art Institute in Charleston South Carolina on Saturday, February 27th. After that I’m going to be taking part in student consultations beginning with a round-table discussion on the basics and techniques of what makes a good portfolio. If you live in the area I hope to see you there.

Posted by Ian at 01:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'll be teaching a two-part-off-camera flash workshop at The Light Factory in Charlotte NC on April 10th and 17th. First and foremost this workshop is about taking your flash off of your camera and either holding it, putting it on a stand, taping it to a wall or setting it on top of something and sticking stuff in front of it. From there we'll just keep digging deeper. It's about how to get magazine quality photographs with a minimal amount of equipment. It's about why lighting an object isn't much different than lighting a person. It's about lighting landscapes. It's about adding light, mixing light, coloring light, choosing light, shaping light….light light light.

It's about walking into a space and lighting it from the ground up. I come from a background in editorial -assignment photography. I'm usually alone, rarely do I have an assistant and I've almost never been to the place or met the person I'm about to be photographing. I assess the environment, person and/or object and the lighting quickly becomes subject and location-driven. It's about coming up with epic ideas and executing them on the spot.

Posted by Ian at 01:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was asked a few weeks ago if I would present in a series called Talk20 for Hub-Bub at the Showroom in Spartanburg SC. Talk20 is basically talking for six minutes and 40 seconds about a creative topic. You get 20 slides and 20 seconds to talk about each slide. I choose to yap about the iPhone as a suitable camera in the professional photographer's bag. It seemed appropriate; I've been shooting them like crazy lately. I'm not too sure about the video guy's steady-hand skills, it's a little shaky but it gets better about the 1:30 point or so.

Posted by Ian at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)