I'm in my sophomore year of college and I've applied for a travel study program through my college. The class is going to Istanbul. My goal with college is to come out with an architectural history degree. I've traveled to South America and North America. I'm wondering if It's worth my time/money to compile a portfolio of the historic landmarks I visit with photos I've taken. If it is, how can I boost the value of my portfolio? I don't want to go to Machu Picchu and take pictures of the temples when I missed the irrigation system. Does that make sense? Should I be building a portfolio? and What should I include?
Academic hiring does not typically use a portfolio, outside of art. They're also not really a thing in the business world, outside of artistic/creative areas like design. (New lawyers typically do use writing examples from their work in school/law clerkships to apply for jobs but I've never heard any of them call it a "portfolio.") I think you'd be better off focusing on your research and writing if you hope to stay in academia, although if you want improve the google results for your name with a website full of nice photography I can't see how that would hurt. :)
Graduated with an Bachelors in History from UIUC but do photography for work.
I honestly do not see how a photo portfolio would help here. History really seems to be much more about writing/research than the photos you take of a cool historical place.
So yeah, I would skip the photo portfolio.
I'm going to somewhat disagree with the others here. I think this could be a very useful and creative way to show your academic chops. However, before you take off and do this on your own, I would ask your adviser or other professor you've worked closely with if you could take on a project like this for an independent study class. This way, you get academic credit for the project and you have someone in the field giving you feedback. The focus of it will probably need to be more narrow than just your travel photos, and if you choose a topic on architecture in Istanbul, I would consult the professor well ahead of time and come up with a specific topic that you'll seek out while you are there.
Then you could pair your photos with an academic paper that you'll write under the tutelage of your professor, create a website, and upload it all along with your CV.
I agree with what everybody else has said. The one benefit of having photographs of historic buildings that I can see is that, should you become a teacher/professor, you can use the photos that you've taken to illustrate lectures. I've definitely been in classes where the prof has shown photos of medieval churches, for example, that are personal photos they've taken themselves. What you'd want to photograph would depend on your interests and what you'd likely want to reference later.
The best way to catalog a lot of photos is just to name and file them carefully on a computer (or, better yet, a large external hard drive).