I had some amazing students when I coached at the Mountain Workshops a few years ago. I love working with early-career photojournalists and watching their growth be exponential over a week of making pictures, getting feedback, taking risks, failing, and getting right back up to try again. And, I especially get a kick out of watching them light up as they have those ah-ha moments.
When Bria Woods was my student she had a story that on the surface wasn’t the most visual. The first few days were meh. The main subject would only allow her to photograph him at work. So, I kept pushing her to get into the house, to get into the church, to get him with his family — to find a way to get to all of these things that made him the man he is.
When she finally did, she found a way to connect with the rest of the family which immediately put him at ease, softening him and allowing her to get deeper, which in turn helped make the pictures even better. I remember when she came back from one evening at their house, the family made her dinner, the boys played with her, the more they talked to her in-depth, they started to open up. I actually gave her a huge hug and cheered out loud from our editing station when I got to the series below. She was trusted, she was connecting, and just as importantly, she was seeing the light. And the pictures just got better from there.
So, this is the follow-up many have asked for — Bria Woods’ New York Portfolio Review. I love that so many people wanted to know how it went for her. This community rocks! So if you’re new here, and missed it, you can read Part 1 here. Bria walked us through the virtual orientation and shared tips and wisdom from photographers and photo editors: from finding common ground with those you’re photographing to editing, sequencing, and pitching stories.
The actual portfolio review happened a week later.
So today, I want to share some of Bria’s photos here, and her experience at the review, in her own voice:
*Exhale*
That was the fastest 20 minutes of my life!
Each of the four photo editors I had the opportunity to speak with managed to play Tetris with time covering so much ground before it evaporated.
I want to give a huge thanks to Danielle A Scruggs, Jovelle Tamayo, Evan Ortiz, and Matej Leskovšek (who stayed up past 2 am in Seoul, Korea) for their time, technical and creative ideas, guidance, and affirmation.
The affirmation surprised me the most because these editors are no strangers to strong work and I often don’t feel up to par with other photographers who I compare myself to.
I went into this review prepared to be humbled and maybe even ripped apart. As the day approached, I got quite nervous about showing my work. As an early career photojournalist who didn’t study photojournalism in university, there is a cloud of doubt and insecurity looming over me. During these first three years as a photojournalist, the learning curve has been incredibly steep. I spent many days with wet eyes and a bowed head doubting my trajectory. My journey has been full of growth, but growth requires you to stand in the humility of not being the best or sometimes not even knowing how to be better.
The New York Portfolio Review came at the perfect time. While I feel like I’m finally hitting my stride, I’m also hungry for help covering my blind spots and identifying how to improve. I am forever grateful to the four editors I met with and the folks who painstakingly put this review on every year.
Thanks to the orientation, I came prepared with images, questions, and talking points. Of course, there are always things I forgot to say or ask or things we ran out of time to explore, but thankfully three of the four shared their contact with me so we can follow up and continue the conversation about the how.
How do I need to position myself in a space to capture something in a different way? How do I edit for mood? How do I sequence my work? How do I break the ice (or let the ice melt) with subjects to enter a realm of trust and vulnerability?
So, my big takeaway is that the next stage of growth is all about the how.
In the short term, my immediate steps are to update my website to reflect the amazing feedback I got. One of the editors asked me to pitch some story ideas based on conversations we had about a project I recently worked on, and some ideas I have branching off of it. And I already have follow-up conversations scheduled with another one of the editors I met with.
My plans for the long term are bigger, deeper, and more philosophical. They’re going to push me out of my comfort zone in a good way. There will, of course, be missteps along the way, and I’m ok with that. Because in the end, they’ll be instrumental in my growth. They’ll force me to ask how to get better and how far I want to go. That is invaluable and I’m forever grateful for those editors who see my potential and know how to push me in ways that will make me a better photojournalist and help me to take that next step, knowing how badly I want it.
This was wonderful. Thanks for sharing.