Portfolio Prep Boot Camp
an editing & professional practices workshop for photographers
Saturday, August 18
10am – 4pm
The Arsenal, 600 Saint Peter St., New Orleans, LA 70116
Class limit: 15
Suggested donation: $25 | Register Here
Need help navigating the world of fine art photography? In order to submit to juried exhibitions, apply for grants, and attend in portfolio reviews, photographers need to have a portfolio of work printed and ready to show the public, along with effective support materials.
This one-day intensive workshop is designed give you the knowledge and confidence to present your work in the most professional manner. Topics will include editing and sequencing images, print size, portfolio boxes, business cards, leave-behinds, artist statements, CVs, project proposals, and social media. Advice on presentation and how to best engage with your audience will prepare you to put your best work forward, whenever professional opportunities arise.
The class will feature a series of guest speakers throughout the day, addressing key topics:
Artist Statements & CV’s – Gene Meneray, The Ella Project
Project Proposals – Megan Koza Mitchell, former DOP, Prospect New Orleans
Promos & Marketing – Kayla Stark, Artist & Graphic Designer
Social Media – Frank Relle, Photographer
Editing & Sequencing Portfolios – Victoria Ryan, Photographer & Educator
The Portfolio Prep Boot Camp is ideal for emerging photographers, and all who seek ideas and feedback to polish their presentation. Participants should bring a cohesive selection of 20-25 prints, which we will edit and sequence in class.
Attending this workshop will help participants prepare for a number of upcoming opportunities, including:
• Louisiana Photographer Review Scholarship
• NOPA’s UnderExposed event at the Jazz Museum in September
• Submissions to juried exhibitions
• Grant applications
• PhotoNOLA & other portfolio reviews
We are delighted to present this workshop in partnership with the Louisiana State Museum.
Presenters Bios:
GENE MENERAY is The ELLA Project’s Co-Founder. He works on cultural policy, arts business development, and cultural entrepreneurial training. A native New Orleanian, and graduate of Tulane University, Gene worked for more than a decade as Director of Artist Services at the Arts Council of New Orleans. He has also worked for Thomas Mann Design and for Young Aspirations/Young Artists (YAYA). From 2011-2017, he served as an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate School of the University of New Orleans, where he taught Arts Administration. He has served multiple times as a grant reviewer for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Louisiana Division of the Arts. In addition to his duties with Ella, Gene is the Director of the Louisiana Crafts Guild, and serves on the Louisiana State Arts Council. Gene is past Chair of Louisiana Citizens for Culture.
MEGAN KOZA MITCHELL is Executive Director of the Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses, in New Orleans, and an independent scholar and critic. She is the former Director of Operations at Prospect New Orleans, is ABD from the University of Kansas, and has both a MA in art history and a BFA in Photography and Graphic Design from the University of Alabama. Koza Mitchell has served as the director of the Dishman Art Museum in Beaumont, Texas, a small academic museum, where in the two years she was there she curated over 15 exhibitions. Koza Mitchell has written extensively for several exhibition catalogues and for several online contemporary art criticism outlets. Her research focuses on the function of contemporary art in the reformation of identity in the wake of trauma, specifically in regard to the use of art in public space. Koza Mitchell is particularly interested in the way visual interpretations of trauma can create or recreate collective cultural identity in the wake of catastrophe as well as the social and cultural ramifications of public art.
FRANK RELLE is a photographer born and based in New Orleans, Louisiana. He graduated from Tulane University with degrees in Cognitive Science and Philosophy. His work is included in the public collections of the Smithsonian Museum of American History, the New Orleans Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and in the private collections of Wynton Marsalis, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Ellen DeGeneres, Drew Brees, Sheryl Crow and Kanye West.
Frank Relle’s photographs have been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, National Geographic, The Southern Review and The Oxford American, and he is the recipient of numerous awards, including a 2007 International Photography Award, and was one of the Photo Lucida Critical Mass Top 50 Photographers in 2006 and 2011.
He was the curator of the New Orleans to Moscow Cultural Exchange Exhibition at the Multimedia Museum. In April 2016, he opened the Frank Relle Gallery on Royal Street.
KAYLA STARK is a graphic designer, photographer, and artist currently living in New Orleans. Originally from Memphis, TN, she moved to New Orleans to study Fine Art at Loyola University.
Kayla has primarily worked as a graphic designer specializing in branding and print design. Some of her local design clients have included the National WWII Museum, Friends of City Park, and Lakeside Shopping Center. She also works as a commercial photographer, with an emphasis on interior design and architectural photography. She is a contributor for the interior design website Houzz, where she writes and photographs home tours of New Orleans residents for the “My Houzz” series.
VICTORIA RYAN has more than three decades of experience as a professional photographer and educator. Renowned for her lush artistic images, Victoria Ryan’s work has been featured in numerous solo exhibitions, as well as group shows and collections throughout the world. She has been highlighted in publications including Lenswork, Fraction Magazine, B&W, Orion, and South x Southeast.
A master printer, Victoria taught photography for 30 years. As the former director of the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts photography program, she developed the curriculum and taught many of the classes. In her time there she helped many students find their voices and launch their own photographic careers. More recently, she served as an adjunct professor at Loyola University in New Orleans, as well as Dillard University. Currently, Victoria has turned her attention to writing and is in the process of creating a trilogy of historical novels based in New Orleans.
