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Portfolio Review Prep Class

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Saturday, Oct 4, 2008
9am – 12 pm
Ogden Annex at Lee Circle

Instructors: Vanessa Brown, Jennifer Shaw and Mike Marvins


Image from 2007 PhotoNOLA Portfolio Review, courtesy of David Rae Morris

If you’ve signed up for the PhotoNOLA Portfolio Reviews, or are thinking about attending a review elsewhere, this class will help you learn more about what to expect from and how to prepare for the portfolio review process.

The first portion of the class will include a general discussion about the review process, with specific tips on portfolio presentation and crafting effective promotional and support materials. For the latter portion of the class we will be joined by special guest Mike Marvins, from Houston, Texas who will speak to us about the view from the other side of the table; imparting advice from the reviewer’s perspective. Through group discussion, handouts, visual examples and Q&A, this class will teach participants how to maximize their investment and make the most of their review opportunity.

Topics:
Reviews 101: an overview of the process
Setting goals and choosing reviewers
Editing your work
Professional presentation
Support materials: the artist’s statement & resume
Promotional leave behinds
Following up

Participants are welcome to bring portfolios and existing support materials for individual feedback. Attendance is free and open to the public. To reserve your spot, email photoalliance@gmail.com.

About the instructors:

Vanessa Brown comprises one half of the dynamic art duo Louviere+Vanessa, a collaborative husband and wife team whose award winning films and photographs have been exhibited and published internationally. Their work is included in the collections of the George Eastman House, Photomedia Center, the Ogden, NOMA and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Vanessa earned a degree in photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She is a veteran of Review Santa Fe, FotoFest, and the ACP8 Portfolio Review.

Mike Marvins is a fourth generation professional photographer from Houston, Texas, as well as a photo-historian, collector and curator. He has taught photography in virtually every state in the U.S. and in Canada, Mexico, Israel and South Africa. Marvins’ photographs have been exhibited internationally, and are included in many esteemed collections. He is currently publishing a Museum Portfolio of his digital work and is completing a photographic book on the Big Bend Region of Texas.
Mr. Marvins has been a volunteer at Fotofest since its founding in 1983, working primarily with photographers and reviewers at the Meeting Place. During this time he has been able to sit in with many reviewers, as they look at work from a wide range of photographers.

Jennifer Shaw is a fine art photographer who teaches the disappearing art of darkroom photography at the Louise S. McGehee School. She earned a BFA in the medium at the Rhode Island School of Design. Jennifer’s photographs have been featured in B&W, Shots, Light Leaks, The Sun and Oxford American magazines. Her work has been exhibited internationally, and is held in both private and public collections. Jennifer is a veteran of two FotoFests, PhotoAmericas (now Photolucida), and a CPW NYC Portfolio Review. She is currently gearing up to attend the ACP 10 Portfolio Review in Atlanta.