To participate in the critique program, complete and mail form along with your portfolio to:
Ron ErdrichIf you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me via email or by phone.
325/676-6735 workIf you're looking for a "kick in the pants" to make your portfolio, try the NPPA Print Portfolio Critique Program! Experienced photojournalists are willing to help with professional guidance, evaluation and constructive criticism for beginning as well as experienced news photographers.
If your portfolio is on CD, ensure that it will work on either PC or Mac platforms. If your portfolio is made up of slides, ensure they are secure in their sheets (double stick tape was what I used to use) so they aren’t all over the envelope when they arrive. Print portfolios should be no larger than a standard 2-inch 3-ring binder.
While this isn’t a job application, you should include a cover letter introducing yourself. Briefly describe the state of your photography career right now and where you want to take it in the future. Include a resume listing any photographic experience and construct your portfolio with photographs which you feel represent your best work, not what you believe someone will want to see. Honesty in showing your work is the only way anyone will be able to give you a similarly honest review.
Ensure your captions are concise and accurate and enlist a friend, if you can, to check for spelling and grammar errors once you have done so yourself. Be sure you include your contact info, the best times when you are available to discuss your work, and a self-addressed stamped envelope if you wish your work to be returned to you.
If it’s been awhile since you put a portfolio together, I would recommend getting a copy of John Kaplan’s Photo Portfolio Success: A guide to submitting and selling your photographs as a place to start from. Remember, most portfolios have about 20 single images covering a variety of topics like sports action and feature, news, portraits, general features and the like. Editors will also be interested in seeing any picture stories you might have completed recently. As a general rule, however, you don’t want to include more than three stories with your portfolio. If you are unsure of these definitions, I recommend looking at the NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism website for examples and clarification.
Of course these are suggestions and not rules by any stretch of the imagination, feel free to interpret them as you wish. The most important thing, as I mentioned above, is to submit what you feel is your best work.