The goal of the project is to help you improve your photography through the creation of a photographic portfolio. Creating a portfolio involves coming up with a theme, crafting an artist statement to define the theme, capturing images that support the artist statement and assembling the above into a printed portfolio. We will be providing guidance and feedback for each step in the process; such as, assistance in selecting a theme, a critique of your artist statement, several critiques of your images, and in April your final printed portfolio will be submitted for review and comments. Finally, in May all portfolios will be displayed and commented on by the reviewer. See the tentative schedule below.
For examples of portfolios created by club members in the past, go to the "Photo Gallery" section of the clubs website (http://nvps.org/gallery/main.php) and select the "Portfolio Project" album.

Your goal is to create a portfolio of your images, primarily collected from June 2010 to May 2011, that exemplify the objectives of your theme and Artist's Statement. These should be images you would be proud to share with others for years to come.

The beginning stages of the project entail picking a theme or concept and writing an Artist's Statement. In the "Artist's Statement," the photographer explains what he or she is trying to accomplish with the project. (See http://nvps.org/main/meetings/portfolio/nvps_portfolio_project_artists for more details about what should and should not be in an Artist's Statement.) The photographer makes images over the program year consistent with the statement and edits the body of work down to draft portfolio of approximately 20-25 images. (The draft portfolio may include some of the artist's earlier images consistent with the theme. Although the final portfolio may include older images, the bulk of it should be recent work.)

Draft Portfolios will be critiqued in March. The final printed portfolios (plus a digital Portfolio file) will be submitted in mid-April for the final review. A May Portfolio meeting will be held when all portfolios will be displayed and discussed. The reviewer will comment on each final portfolio submitted. On January 25th, 2011 we will have an NVPS Presentation on Creating Portfolios and Samples of Past Portfolios.

If there is sufficient interest we will try to schedule an informal review of potential portfolio images in December or January.

A final portfolio should contain about 12 to20 images. (Exact parameters may be specified later.) It may be bound as in an album or each image may be matted and contained loose in a traditional portfolio box. Printed portfolios may be obtained from such companies as www.mpix.com and www.MyPublisher.com. Portfolio boxes and albums are available from B & H Photo ( http://www.bhphotovideo.com), Light Impressions (http://www.lightimpressionsdirect.com), and at Michaels and Penn Camera.
Each artist will be able to display a draft Portfolio for comment online using the club's website, http://nvps.org/gallery. The online version is the working, draft version, and intended to facilitate sharing images and comments throughout the portfolio's development. It also allows participants and other members to see and comment on all draft portfolios as they progress throughout the year. These comments will not only help participants improve their images, but in choosing their best work to be included in the final printed portfolio.

The online version of the portfolio is limited to about 30 images. This experience is an excellent opportunity to create a high quality portfolio to showcase your best work. There is a wealth of information on the web on creating a portfolio. A good starting place is the following link: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/portfolio-8.shtml.

Portfolio Project Coordinators at portfolio@nospam!#*&^#)type address - don't copy spam protection(*@.@nospamnvps.org: Bill Prosser [703-821-2670], Scott Musson [703-278-2828], and Paul Simmons [703-912 4862].

Note: all items are optional, but are suggested for a successful Portfolio

Sept - Sign up for the Portfolio Project
Oct - Nov - Craft your artist statement
Sept - April - Shoot your images that support your artist statement
Oct - Nov 2010 - Submit a draft artist statement
Oct - Nov 2010 - Portfolio Project Coordinators comment on artist statements submitted
Nov 2010- Start uploading your images to the NVPS website (instructions forthcoming)
Nov 2010 - Informal online critique of portfolio images starts
January 25th, 2011 - Presentation on Creating Portfolios and Samples of Past Portfolios
TBD - Final Critique
April 2011 - Collect portfolios to be judged
May 2011 - Final portfolio presentation

• Crafting your artist statement
• Shooting images that support your artist statement
• Submitting a draft artist statement to portfolio@nospam!#*&^#)type address - don't copy spam protection(*@.@nospamnvps.org if you would like feedback
• Create a user id at the NVPS photo gallery if you don't already have one (http://nvps.org/gallery/main.php)