Make one environmental portrait using a family member.

When considering capturing a family portrait, i think about the members of my family and what represents them. To me, other than my mum and sister who i live with, My grandparents are my closest family. As documentary photography captures portrait style images in individuals natural environment, i am going to take images of my grandparents at their home because neither of them work anymore and spend most of their time at home. I plan to tell a story with my images as i want to show the relationship i have with my grandparents through natural image, i go around to their house on Tuesdays and Thursdays nearly every week and just spend time with them, not particularly doing anything special. Therefore through myimages i want to use creative and innovative camera angles aswell as natural lighting which turn there everyday lives into somewhat beautiful images.

I think that the shoot went well as i managed to capture a couple of good portrait images of my Grandma which tells us a bit about her and what she likes to do. However i think that the shoot could have gone better if i had planned more and considered the small rooms and where i needed to position myself in relation to where my grandparents where to get a good angle as i was trying to capture the most natural images of them possible. Therefore in my next shoots i will focus on taking more images focusing on capturing the same image but from a variety of angles, changing the lighting so i can get the best image possible. Nonetheless the images did capture my grandparents in their natural environment and show from start to finish what a normal visit to their house would be like and how spending time with them is what family means to me. Here are a few of my favourite images:

This is my favourite image from my documentary shoot because it captured the documentation of my grandma which i had planned and i would also considered the image a strong portrait as she is looking directly at the camera so we can see her face clearly. However it is also a good documentary portrait as it contains a lot of the environment and this gives a greater clue to the activities and the type of character that my grandma might be. The image is of my grandmother doing a puzzle. i think that the rule of thirds in this image has been followed, the subject is in the top axis of the image and sticking to one particular side (right) of the image. This helps to keep the image spaced out and allow for the puzzle to be included in the image which is the main documentation part of the image because the photograph is capturing her doing one of her hobbies in her own home. I also think it is crucial to highlight the use of lighting in this image. The strong direction of lighting onto the face makes the portrait almost bold and over dramatic for what is actually being captured but this was the effect i was going for. The harsh lighting created from a sunny day through the blinds adds a really interesting look to the image. But i also feel like the blinds and lighting may highlight a further message which has a deeper meaning. The blinds which are not allowing much light in and are covering the outside world could symbolize that the older generation are more limited in their movement and may feel like they are trapped inside there homes as they are unable to walk around as much as they used to be able to