Greetings! Over the last few months, I worked with Wonderfulmachine to fine tune my printed portfolio. Although I’ve updated my iPad portfolio, it’s been many years since I paid attention to a printed book. With the onslaught of the internet, it seemed like a not-so-prudent investment to pay good money to have my work edited by dispassionate eyes and then pay to have prints made. After all, doesn’t a photographer just need a good web site? Uh, no. After my first visit with the recently released iPad, (a couple of years ago), to New York and Washington, D.C., I got some great feedback from both editors at magazines and art buyers at agencies. The resounding answer to my question about the iPad was that yes: the photos on the iPad look beautiful. The images sing because they are backlit, kind of like 8×10″ transparencies. (Ah, the good old days!) But, and it was a big but, they all needed/wanted to see what the images looked like on paper because print is not dead. The images must work both in print and online, so a printed book is a necessity.
For me, self promotion has never been easy, but I’ve always tried to keep it simple. Staying in touch with people who I’ve worked with by means of in-person visits, asking for references, following up on those with phone calls and printed promo cards has been my modus operandi for years. For the last two years I’ve stared doing quarterly email blasts and following up with a printed promo card for those persons who’ve clicked through the site. The sum of these efforts has led to a certain amount of success. However, the main problem is doing this on top of running a business that is mostly out-of-town. (I also hand address all of my promo cards. Tedious, but it makes more sense than just slapping a sticker on a card. I am confident the person on the other end should see my work.) Now Wonderfulmachine has posted my printed portfolio online! It’s nice to see it there, and although it’s not the same as flipping through a book, it’s a nice showcase of recent work and I think they did a good job. You can watch the video here:
If you’d like to see a printed portfolio, you can contact me directly, or you can contact Wonderfulmachine and they can send one to you. Thank you for reading and have a great day!
Commercial, Editorial and Travel Photographer Susan Seubert 