Adorama · New York, NY
Thursday, August 27 • 5 PM – 6 PM
How to Build a Portfolio That Shows Your Vision (and Sells Your Skills)
What does your portfolio say about you, your skills, and the kind of photographer you want to become? In this inspiring and practical lecture, APA member Ian Spanier, former Photography Director for GQ, Esquire, Marie Claire, and ESPN, and an internationally recognized portrait photographer, shares his approach to building a portfolio that gets noticed and gets you hired.
Drawing from decades of photographing some of the world's most recognizable celebrities, athletes, and personalities, as well as authoring four critically acclaimed books, Ian will reveal his strategies for selecting, sequencing, and showcasing your strongest work. Learn how to demonstrate versatility without diluting your vision, eliminate the images that hold your portfolio back, and make sure your best skills never end up on the cutting room floor.
Whether you're building your first serious portfolio or refining one after years in the business, you'll leave with practical tools and a clearer vision for how to impress clients, stand out from the competition, and create a portfolio that helps lead you toward the assignments you want to shoot.
Please Note: This is a don't miss in-person event that is also livestreamed on the Adorama Events YouTube channel.
Born in Connecticut and raised in Westchester, New York, Ian Spanier has had a lifelong interest in photography — since age 6, to be specific, when his parents gave him his first camera: a Kodak Disc. For two decades after, Ian did everything he could not to become a photographer — yet he somehow always found himself with camera in hand, composing pictures and telling stories.
In college, Ian majored in art and psychology, and his first career aspiration was to work in sports medicine as a trainer for a professional team. Even after he abandoned that plan in favor of photography, though, he spent much more of his time on the back end — as a magazine photo editor, assigning and organizing shoots rather than creating images himself. As the years passed, though, he found himself increasingly in the field and not behind a desk — and realized, however circuitously, that he had found his true calling after all.
These days, as comfortable hanging off the edge of a cliff as he is in the studio, Ian's happy to go to just about any length to get the shot. He has long said that his brain doesn't really have a "fear switch," but there was always one exception: sharks. Not wanting to self-impose professional limitations, however, several years ago Ian took it upon himself to go to South Africa, submerge himself in a protective cage and go face-to-face with the Great White. This episode seems to have cured him of his phobia — a result perhaps psychology-major Ian could have shed some light on back in college.
Ian lives in Los Angeles full time now, and is available for assignments in New York, California… and any place else that's accessible by plane, train, car, horse, dune buggy, bungee cord, camel or mule. If it can be reached by legs, hooves, hooks, wheels or wings, it's fair game for an Ian Spanier shoot.
In partnership with Westcott
Check out some of Ian's incredible work below! All photos are property of Ian Spanier.
Website: www.ianspanier.com
Instagram: @ianspanier
From hands-on workshops and live podcasts to creator talks and special in-store events, there's always something happening at the Adorama Event Space. Join us to learn from industry experts, connect with fellow creators, and be part of our creative community.
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