Trust Your Eye
Confidence in selecting.
Every photographer eventually reaches the same crossroads.
You stop asking, “Is this a good photograph?”
And begin asking, “Is this the photograph I want representing me?”
That shift changes everything.
Open Submission isn’t simply an opportunity to share your favourite image.
It’s an opportunity to define your standard.
Every photograph included in a portfolio becomes part of your visual identity, shaping how clients, editors, and viewers understand your work before a single conversation takes place.
This week, photographers returned to one of the simplest assignments on paper, yet one of the most demanding in practice: Open Submission.
No creative brief.
No technical objective.
No stylistic direction.
Just one image that each photographer believed best represented their work.
The challenge wasn’t making another photograph.
It was believing in one enough to submit it.
Every portfolio is a reflection of the decisions you’re willing to stand behind.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Technical ability creates options.
Editorial judgment creates portfolios.
The ability to recognize your strongest work is a skill that develops through repetition, honest self-evaluation, and constructive feedback.
Learning what to leave out is often just as valuable as knowing what to include.
The photographers who consistently grow aren’t simply making more photographs.
They’re becoming better editors of their own work.
ASSIGNMENT BRIEF
At the end of each review session, CARTY delivers a focused brief outlining exactly what members will create for the following week.
For this assignment, photographers returned to Open Submission, selecting a single photograph they believed best represented their current body of work.
Without creative restrictions or technical requirements, the emphasis shifted entirely to thoughtful selection, confidence, and professional presentation.
This week’s selected photographs represent more than successful captures.
They represent conviction.
Each photographer made the decision to place one image forward as a reflection of their current standard, and those choices produced an outstanding collection of work.
These are this week’s featured photographs.
Jessica Mendez
What made this the one photograph you chose to represent your work this week?
I really liked the colours, the banana bread and how I styled it.
I wanted to try soft lighting this week for a different mood.
What were you hoping to communicate or say through this photograph?
Hopefully the appeal of a beloved desert fresh out of the oven.
I wanted the light to be soft and friendly and really show off the banana bread texture and colours.
What creative or technical decision had the biggest impact on the final image?
I think the soft lighting was better suited to the subject than hard light.
I tested it with hard light and it just didn’t communicate what I wanted it to.
After spending some time away from this photograph, what do you appreciate about it now that you might not have noticed when you first created it?
I really love the light on the golden brown bread and the way the banana glistens.
I love the texture of the cracks in the banana bread.
Also, the banana halves on top of the bread really elevate what might just be another plain loaf.
How does this photograph reflect your growth as a photographer or the direction you want your portfolio to take?
I think the composer could have been a little more precise but it was another lesson in simplicity.
I wanted to add a couple supporting elements but not let it get too busy.
Social Media Handles:
Website: jessicamendezphoto.com
Instagram: drjessicahughes
Mike Howell
What made this the one photograph you chose to represent your work this week?
This is a transition week for me moving from black or white backgrounds to my first trial with a solid colour Seamless background.
I love the colour combinations with the cream, red and blue and when I started putting the set together, it just really spoke to me.
What were you hoping to communicate or say through this photograph?
Well, fine wine, served in a very clean you know, crisp environment.
I want people to see this and think I wanna taste that wine.
What creative or technical decision had the biggest impact on the final image?
OK, I’m using a lot of light modifiers right now to deal with reflections on glass.
I’ve also been working with scrims in addition to soft boxes for the last couple of weeks and I’m really pleased with the direction that these images are going so I think this image summed up very well the best of the work that I did this week.
After spending some time away from this photograph, what do you appreciate about it now that you might not have noticed when you first created it?
Colour coordination and the Seamless background.
I’m very new to a product Photography and so something is simple as a Seamless background succeeding is exciting for me.
I just thought this combination worked really really well.
How does this photograph reflect your growth as a photographer or the direction you want your portfolio to take?
Since joining portfolio lab, it has been my goal to shoot every day, which I am basically doing.
What I’m discovering is related to growth, it’s much easier to put systems in place and then once I have those systems for example, lighting and backdrops, etc.
It makes it easier to shoot iterations to come back and look at it the next day and re-shoot if I feel like that’s what I need to do.
Before that would’ve been very complicated.
Social Media Handles:
Website: themikehowell.com
Instagram: N/A
Khaligraphy
Social Media Handles:
Website: khaligraphy.art
Instagram: khaligraphy
Sonny Warren
Social Media Handles:
Website: sonnywarrenphoto.com
Instagram: sonnywarrenphoto
Sean Thomas
Social Media Handles:
Website: autoluximagery.com
Instagram: autoluximagery
Jim Sinicki
Social Media Handles:
Website: charliejamesphoto.com
Instagram: charlie_james_photo
Substack: Charlie James Photo
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👉🏾 Carty a Pro Photographer, Director, and Educator based in Toronto, CA.
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Watch the replay of these photo submissions below.