Portfolio Reviews etc...

i have not checked in here for a few days and then just tonight also discovered i have this huge “mailbox” here spilling over with mail!!

so so many warm letters from you..many thanks… so many of you are also looking for portfolio reviews both here and on my own blog…i so love to look at new work…i have self-assigned myself this mission since i started as a professional when i was 23…i have always done workshops as a “payback” and “payforward” experience..i have always felt “grateful” to my craft and have always felt that sharing took nothing away from me…i always felt secure in my “own skin”..people are streaming in and out of my loft in new york all the time and i do look at a lot of work at my workshops…which is really the very best way to “pin me down”....and i have had some time where i have been able to look at some portfolios on line…and some photogs have staked me out and caught me in the most unlikely places to look at work!!!

so, in theory, i am totally up for it…but, now that i do have a presence on the net, things have gotten out of hand..but, i came here in the first place to kind of do an “online workshop” just because i knew that so many photographers, particularly in developing countries could not possibly afford a traditional workshop….so here we are…a community…amazing..

BUT, i used to answer every comment…i used to look at all portfolios….i still would like to do this, but you may imagine the near impossibility…so some of you i will see and some of you i will not….just random free time and random picking of someone..i do not know what else to do…i cannot let my blog time or my workshop take over my working time…for what i have to offer is only one thing: currently like right now, living working breathing the biz from every perspective…and maybe even more important surrounded by a peer group of the best photographers, editors, agency heads, publishers, gallerists, etc etc…they all show up over at my loft too!!!

now, at this same time, magnum is starting a new education program and somehow i got drafted to sort of spearhead things a bit…this was decided at a meeting where i was not present!! oldest trick in the book!!

for our first little foray into this program, several of us will be looking at portfolios in new york on june 17 as part of our 60th anniversary….details are being worked out and there will be some kind of e-blast i think here soonest..we will have to rent a space and fund the photogs a little, but we will keep the investment down as low as possible to make it a practical investment for those who want to give it a try….same with perpignan this september and i think that one is gratis…given the opportunity, i will always work for free!! catch me at the laundromat!!

seriously, the bottom line is that i will do my best to honestly look at your work whenever i can online and give you the “real news” to the best of my ability..i will tell you what i really think…no point in doing otherwise… and at the same time please be patient..a good review takes time…i am sure you understand…

also, you might want to check out the story i wrote two days ago i think under the “road trips” section of my blog, titled “in flight magazines”...i sort of “buried the lead” maybe , but i think you will appreciate my general drift…i am creating non-profit board right now…this will be a new kind of collaboration… tease, tease!! just go read it…

i will try to make some things happen for you…giving works…

cheers et al, david

by david alan harvey at Thu May 24 03:48:29 UTC 2007 (ed. 12 Mar 12:56) new york, United States | Bookmark this | Digg this |