Interview with Neil Binkley, PDN 2009 Self Promotion Awards Designer.

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Interview with Neil Binkley, Judge for PDN’s 2009 Self Promotion Awards « No Plastic Sleeves:

"How important do you feel a portfolio book and/or online portfolio is in securing a job in the creative industries?

I think that creating and sharing a printed portfolio is still a necessary and valuable exercise, and for a few reasons:

1) For advertising work especially, agencies still call in books. Partially, I think, because photographers’ websites can look so wonderful on the web, but most campaigns end up in print at some point, and an art buyer wants to be sure that the photographer can deliver in the printed realm. Especially when it comes to retouching.

2) It’s still helpful to meet art buyers/photo editors in person, and what will you show them when they do agree to a meeting? Of course, you can bring your fancy laser gun leave-behinds, but a quality-minded creative wants to be confident that you have consistently created a body of work that shows many images in the style they’re looking for. And meeting someone in-person is generally much more memorable than an email or phone call.

3) The creation of the book itself is valuable, because it forces you to define the type of work that you’re good at and that you’d like more of. In some cases you’ll need to shoot more work after realizing that you haven’t shot enough to be reliable. You don’t want someone to think that your amazing photograph was done by chance. You want them to be confident that you are in control of creating good images.

And as for digital portfolios, I’m not sure if you’re referring to a website, which really can be an online portfolio, or a digital version of your print book. Either way, the same rules of providing a tight edit and good work apply. And sure, sending a digital portfolio instead of a printed one is better than not sharing your work.

But I would always recommend having a printed book."