Tuula Alajoki, M.A. is a Finnish curator focusing on photography and lens based art, Director of Backlight Photo Festival in Tampere. She has collaborated with numerous emerging and established artists, institutions and photo festivals since 2008. Since then she has participated in various European portfolio reviews and juries. In 2012 she was appointed director of Backlight Photo Festival. 

Photography is the only visual art form with various annual portfolio reviews taking place all around the world. Why should photographers come to these reviews and how should they be prepared to make the most out of the meetings? What kind of practical matters should be taken into consideration before hand? What qualities make an outstanding portfolio for the purpose(s) and how can the participants choose the right reviewers to whom to show the works?  These are some of the topics we shall go through and discuss during the talk.