William Neill’s Book The Photographer’s Portfolio Development Workshop

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Preoccupied with tools and techniques, few photographers speak to thematic development, which is exactly what William Neill does in his book The Photographer’s Portfolio Development Workshop.

The lessons it offers were originally designed for his BetterPhoto online course (offered for eight years but no longer available) and have now been updated and have helped thousands deepen their visual voice.

One look at the sections in its table of contents will show you the journey it offers you.

Find Your Focus

Think In Themes

Edit On A Technical And Aesthetic Level

Build Upon A Theme

Add Depth To Your Portfolio

Refine Your Theme

Where You Can Go From Here

Put It All Together

I judge books not by their covers but by their tables of contents. This one is well worth the time taken to get to know it. At 100 highly illustrated pages, making the time for this book is not a big commitment, but it will likely help you make a bigger commitment to your photography.

Get 40% off with the discount code – WNEILL40.

Find this book here.

Learn more about William Neill here.

Read a quick Q&A with William Neill here.

Read quotes by William Neill here.

Books With Topical Themes Enjoy Wider Appeal

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One of the ways you can create a book that has wider appeal is to give it a topical focus. Books on well-known subjects (people, places, things, events, etc) have a built in audience – anyone interested in the subject. Comparatively few people know about and are interested in individual artists and so monographs focussed exclusively on an artist’s vision draw smaller audiences. Even books on a particular media process enjoy wider appeal.
It may be challenging to convince a major publisher interested in mass distribution to produce an artist’s monograph without a topical focus. This shouldn’t stop you from producing one yourself. Many artist’s self-publish their own books. In the age of print-on-demand services (like Blurb) the cost, time and expertise required to produce these kinds of books has been reduced dramatically. These types of books tend to be targeted to niche markets. Nobody knows your audience better than you. Nobody will give your work as much sustained attention as you will. Producing your own artist’s book can be extremely fulfilling, you’ll come to understand your work better and learn to make it more effective. The few people who enjoy the fruits of your labor will savor it all the more knowing that it’s a rare experience.
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