Portfolio Analysis

Part 1 - Portfolios 

Alyssa Schukar

General focus: Stories

Problems: not enough close up pictures; not enough strong singles; the not so great pictures took away from the great ones

Likes: they liked the few strong images, especially the singles; the images with new/different angles 

Impression: My overall impression of the photographer was not great. She had some very good pictures but for the most part her image were all very similar and not as interesting to look at as some others. The story was also sad, which made it not as fun to look at as well. I did like a few of her more optimistic pictures, but the majority of the images I did not really like.

Sam Adams

General focus: sports and every day life/photojournalism

Problems: the pictures did not "do" anything for the judges; not great lighting; compositions are not that great; distractions in the background and foreground

Likes: good ideas behind the photos; good silhouette pictures

Impression: My overall impression of the photographer was not great but better than the first one. I liked the ideas behind his photos, but he just did not quite capture the moments right. The one thing I could not look past was all the distractions in the background and foreground that took away from what could have been a cool image. I did not like how the picture story did not really follow a story. The photographer has the right idea, but he just needs to take better images to capture the moments in the best way.

Jordan Murph

General focus: sports

Problems: repetition of photos; lack of subjects/players in some images; not strong enough pictures; pictures that did not belong in the portfolio were there; artificial action

Likes: the liked the sports images and the angels chosen; good lighting and composition; good singles

Impression: My overall impression of the photographer is pretty good. I enjoyed viewing his single photos and I liked their compositions are use of lighting. The only downfall in his images were his picture stories. They were not good at all, did not use good lighting, did not use good compositions or rules of photography, and overall were boring to look at. His picture stories did not tell a story which was pointless. Besides his stories, he had extremely good photos that were very interesting to look at.

Dustin Snipes

Strengths: shooting at the right angles; good compositions; the people in the photos were all doing something; nice blurs; captured good moments; creative photos; right in the middle of the action

My take: Some strengths that I saw in the winner's portfolio were good use of composition and lighting. I thought the photographer had a well thought out story behind each photo and they were all interring to look at. Another strength was how the photographer managed to capture a bunch of key moments in the perfect way. One weakness that I saw was how some images were too photoshopped. Also, I did not like how many pictures were mostly blurred because to me it took away from the subject of the photo.

Recap Video

Choosing process: To choose the winner the judges looked at all the portfolios and discussed what they liked and did not like and then they would eliminate the ones they did not like. They talked about it and heard each other out, and then came to an agreement. Each judge was completely honest and this helped the process of choosing the winner. They narrowed it down to two portfolios and discussed each one in detail to choose the winner.

Part 2 - Individual Images

1. One photo that I agree with the judges on is the tennis photo from part 2 of the person in red rejoicing. Both the judges and I liked this image because it was cropped nicely and it tells a story. Also, I liked it because the story it tells is emotional and overall the image is very interesting to look at.

2. One photo that I do not agree with the judges on is the goose photo from parts 5 and 6. All the judges really liked this photo and while it is a good photo it is not my favorite. I disagree with the judges on this one because I think there were other photos in that category that deserved first place and not the goose image. The photographer did catch a very interesting moment, but I feel as though there are better stories and overall better photos in some of the other images.