Within hearing the word home, people associate a home with a family. However, no family is perfect, and families don't just consist of blood. Although I do love my family, I also consider my close friends as family. With my friends I feel completely happy and free and my true self. I decided to photograph my friends at 'pres' for a party to truly capture their wild and exciting spirit. I tried to capture my friends when they were least expecting it, such as when they were getting ready or playing beer pong.
The Shoot
This is every photo I took, a lot of them are out of focus as I was having to capture moments very quickly as the photos aren't planned. However I did capture some good shots which I chose out in selection in Lightroom and then manipulated them.
When the Dutch republic was created it gave everyone a great sense on national identity which people were extremely proud of. With this pride and the flourishing economy, people started collecting and thus still life portraits became extremely popular with people wanting to show off how wealthy they were or how many interesting artifacts they’d collated from various exotic places. With trade becoming popular with far away and exotic places, 17th century artists couldn’t help but focus highly on these artifacts and adopted a “close scrutiny of the natural world.”. Along with their fixation of capturing light, this created the basis on which the genre of still life was to be built. By the mid-century, still life was common practice and eventually split into its own different categories, with the earliest example being at the beginning of the 1600’s and were the flower paintings inspired by ‘tulip-mania, then followed by flowers with fruit then breakfast pieces.
In 1907, the Lumière brothers, Auguste and Louis, introduced the first viable method of color photography. Although color photographs had existed, the process was clumsy and complicated. The key ingredient, the Lumières discovered, was potato starch.
The process, called autochrome, involved covering a glass plate with a thin wash of tiny potato starch grains dyed red, green, and blue, thus creating a filter. A thin layer of emulsion was added over that. When the plate was flipped and exposed to light, the resulting image could be developed into a transparency. Autochrome was immediately popular in Paris, where it was introduced, and soon spread to the United States. Like early black and white photography, autochrome was a slow process. Because exposures were long, subjects had to stay still—sometimes unsuccessfully—to avoid a blurred image. But with autochrome, the blur had an unusual aesthetic effect. Paired with the soft, dyed colors, it made the photo look like a painting.
Most publishers adopted Kodachrome in the 1930s because it was easier to use. Autochrome required photographers to carry around heavy wooden suitcases filled with fragile glass plates; Kodachrome film, twinned with a 35mm camera, was light and easy to travel with. Today, autochrome is rarely used, and films like Kodachrome have been supplanted by digital. The autochrome plates in archives provide a unique look into the past, to a time before digital precision replaced a softer, painterly look and palette.
Born in Jersey in 1879 he had a keen interest in history and was a member of La Société Jersiaise, served on its executive committee as joint honorary secretary, and was curator of the Museum and editor of the Annual Bulletin.He also realised that history was being made during his own lifetime and he recorded the development of his native island from the turn of the century until his death in 1972. He experimented with Autochrome colour very early in the century. Not only did he record events and activities during his own lifetime, particularly agriculture, but he had a fascination with the past and chronicled with his images many archaeological excavations (his pictures of the interior of La Hougue Bie remain some of the best in existence) as well as photographing Mont Orgueil (Gorey) Castle and other coastal fortifications, sites of geological interest, and architecture. Guiton had a particular interest in the design of Jersey houses over the centuries, and particularly in different styles of arches to be found in the island. He was present at many major events, including the Liberation in 1945 (he had also taken photographs during the German Occupation, and the proclamations of successive monarchs in the Royal Square.
Emile Guiton was a keen amateur photographer and practised throughout his long life. He experimented with colour at the beginning of the twentieth century in “Autochromes”. His subjects include the recording of archaeological excavations and he was one of the few people in Jersey permitted to take photographs during the German Occupation of 1940 – 1945. Emile Guiton also recognised very early on the importance of collecting photographs, both as a valuable social historic resource and as interesting artefacts – examples of developments in science and technology. He donated many images to the Société Jersiaise. He died in 1972.
As my time to take photos of Joyce and Hedley were limited, I only managed to capture a few images. Here is a screenshot of the non-manipulated images I took. WE took the images in the studio and used key lights in a light box which were connected to the flash commander on the camera. I took this on a canon DSLR and I used a 50m portrait lens.
My Manipulated Images
For this image, I mainly focused on Hedley's face as the light wasn't hitting it. I therefore brightened up some of his face and fixed some of the over exposure on the left side of his face. I then adjusted the white balance of his face to make it more similar to Joyce's face. I also used to spot healing tool to remove a lot of white fluff from his sweater. I also added a bit more brightness into Joyce's eyes so that they're more noticeable.
Experimentation
I added this frame in Photoshop which makes the image looks like a distressed photograph. Nowadays, images are mainly stored on phones, computers and social media. However, the older generation still mainly store all their photographs in physical form. I applied this filter to reflect how Hedley and Joyce are still more likely to keep their photographs in physical form.I photo shopped this frame to make the image look like a slide from a film camera. I like this effect because during the war the cameras were all use by film so it reflects the time Hedley and Joyce were children.
Other Manipulated Image
For this image I decided to manipulate this photo to become black and white. This is to reflect that as Hedley and Joyce are old, many of their childhood photos / photos of their parents or grandparents would've been in black and white. I then adjusted the contrast and on particular parts of the face such as around the eyes, I made them brighter to draw more attention to them. Hedley's face was particularly dark in the photo, so i worked on brightening Hedley's face a lot more so his features are a lot easier to see. I also used the spot healing tool on Hedley's jumper to remove fluff balls that were stuck on his jumper.
Experimentation
For this image, I added a frame that had burnt corners. I feel like the burnt corners can represent two things: the age of Joyce and Hedley / their experiences and how some of their experiences of the war can damage them. For this image I applied a different film frame. During the war, there were no digital cameras. Only film cameras were around at the time so the film frame can represent the moment of day to day life of the war and how the older generation who survived the war can also be mentally stuck in it.
Cook maid with Still Life of Vegetables and Fruit, painted by Sir Nathaniel Bacon (c.1620-5)
Technical:
Incorporates highlights and shadows, showing a clear understanding of light and dark. This image contains three factors. The stature and framing of the female subject in the centre, as well as the clouds in the sky in the background and a series of fruits and vegetables in the foreground.
Visual:
The image captures a slightly larger woman surrounded by fruits and vegetables, both signify some sort of wealth or financial sustenance to be able to afford those foods and clearly have enough food on the table to thrive. The position of a large fruit over the woman’s belly represents fertility and the ability to carry and produce a healthy child. The composition is very colourful, with fruits and vegetables around the base of the image and a flowery wreath hung up on the wall.
Contextual:
‘Cookmaid’ and market scenes, popular in the seventeenth century, evolved in the Low Countries from a genre practised by Pieter Aertse and his pupil Joachim Beuckalaer, which combined contemporary kitchen scenes with a New Testament episode beyond. An inventory of 1659 connected to the will of the artist’s wife lists ‘Ten Great peeces in Wainscote of fish and fowle’. Two other ‘Cookmaid’ pictures are known to exist: Cookmaid with Still Life of Game and Cookmaid with Still Life of Birds, both in the possession of the artist’s descendants. The Tate’s work is possibly part of this group. Such groups were often intended to depict the four seasons or the twelve months of the year. In the case of this piece, however, although every item represented in the painting was grown in England at the time, not all would have been in season simultaneously. Bacon, according to a letter dated 19 June 1626, was growing melons at his estate in East Anglia, and he was known to have a keen interest in horticulture. The subject would most likely have had erotic connotations. The abundance of ripe melons surrounding the cookmaid echo her figure.
Still life paintings have technically been around for thousands of years. The earliest examples of still life paintings were by cavemen dating back toA still life composition is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural or man-made. The art style often uses symbolism and meanings hidden within the image. Still life images should rarely be taken at surface value.
Dutch artists of the 17th Century became renowned for being greatly concerned with ‘a close scrutiny of the natural world.’ This, combined with their preoccupation with perspective and the study of light, provided the fundamental elements of Still Life painting. The term had come into general usage in mid-century, Still Life being the carefully composed portrayal of inanimate objects, such as: fruits, flowers, skulls and other prestigious objects. Living creatures were able to be incorporated as long as they were incidental to the main theme. Still Life, in itself a particular aspect of art, further diversified into different categories.
The Distinct Categories:
The earliest examples, from the beginning of the 1600s and later influenced by ‘tulip-mania’, were the popular floral paintings. These were followed by flowers with fruit, then the humble ‘breakfast pieces’. As the century progressed, and wealth became widespread, so the ‘breakfast’ developed into the ‘banquet piece’, depicting large quantities of high end food and delicacies. Another important facet of Still Life called ‘Trompe L’Oeil’, French for ‘deceive the eye’ – evolved in the mid-century from the game piece and its illusionist appeal to the Dutch. Finally, at the latter part of the century, taste changed, colour and form became more baroque.
Flower Pieces:
Just as painters specialised in different aspects of art, certain towns became the focal points for specific genres. Dutch cities such as Middelburg, Utrecht and Amsterdam were the main centres for flower painting, a genre that was highly regarded and very well paid. The artists, although portraying genuine flowers, depicted them in impossible arrangements such as blooms from all four seasons were shown at once, reflecting the studio practice of painting individual flowers, in season, as studies for future reference. Flowers were accurately detailed without the overlapping that would happen naturally in a vase arrangement. Flowers were ciphers for spring but there was also an evolving symbolism in the language of flowers that was accessible to contemporary viewers. For example the Madonna lily was an attribute of the Virgin Mary, the white iris a symbol of her purity and the rose, of her love. A daisy meant charity, a buttercup represented the unmarried , and the sunflower represented the love of God, or sometimes love of the earth. Some artists presented their work as so-called ‘niche’.
Fruit with Flowers:
Symbolism was highly present at the time in objects such as exotic fruits and shells brought back by trading merchants. Shells had particular appeal to a nation governed by the sea and, with fruit, were often displayed as part of floral compositions. Fruit had a religious message; the apple of temptation, the grape the blood of Christ; and a different shell might represent each continent as visual tribute to the geographic and scientific discoveries of the day.
Breakfast Pieces:
With the introduction in Haarlem and Amsterdam of the Ontbijtje, the Breakfast Piece, the format changed to landscape to accommodate the expanse of a tabletop. Placing the table edge parallel to the horizon, with the table-cover dropping markedly downwards, enhanced the impression of space. The food illustrated was basic – bread, cheese, fruit, nuts, herring – and often presented half eaten for realism. The cutlery and dishes of pewter or pottery were equally simple but skilfully painted. In earlier breakfast pieces, the viewer is looking downwards onto the table, but as the century progresses, the viewpoint is lowered. Like the flowers, the objects were carefully spaced and by the 1620s were projecting over the table edge, creating an illusion of nearness to the viewer. By the 1630s these bright colours were becoming more monochromatic.
An environmental portrait is a portrait captured in the subject’s usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and usually highlights the subject’s life and surroundings. By photographing a person in their natural surroundings, the photographer will be able to illuminate their character better and therefore portray their personality rather than their physical features. It is also thought that by photographing a person in their natural surroundings , the subject will be more at ease, as opposed to in a studio which portrays an artificial experience.
CANDID PORTRAIT:
A candid portrait is where the subject is unaware that a photo has been taken. The idea of a candid portrait is to capture people acting naturally. They should be unaware they are being photographed, as their behaviour often changes once they become aware of the camera.
ALEC SOTH
I Know How Furiously Your Heart Is Beating is a slim book including 35 photographs. The domestic interiors captured in his photographs illuminate the subjects who lives in them. When capturing portraits he looks for interesting people and interesting spaces: “They can be male or female, young or old, rich or poor. The main thing is to have an intimate encounter that is visually strong”.
The reporter Sean O’Hagan, who wrote an article about Alec Soth for the Guardian, watched him work up close as he photographed people who lived in “interesting spaces”. Apparently Soth uses a large glass plate camera on a tripod. The process is difficult and requires patience from the sitter, who has to remain still while Soth sets up the shot, disappearing for a long amount of time under a large blanket. He works in a Victorian way which is more suited for outdoor photography. Under the blanket Soth tries to get things in focus. It’s a camera built to photograph landscapes and Soth is using it in constricted interior spaces. It’s hard work for Alec Soth to take a photograph but nothing else comes close when it comes to capturing light and texture.
Still-life painting emerged as a distinct genre and professional specialization in Western painting by the late 16th century and it’s earliest examples can be found almost 100 years before this in the early 1600s. Still Life as a genre began in the Netherlands and the English term still life derives from the Dutch word Stilleven. The early still life paintings, particularly before 1700, would often contain religious and allegorical symbolism relating to the objects depicted. later Still life would be depicted through different forms of technology including photographs, computer generated images, video and sound. There are several different types of still life paintings that have been recognized over the years, including;
Flower Pieces – Real flowers depicted in impossible or unrealistic arrangements. Different flowers would also represent different aspects of life such as love, death, God, Etc.
Fruit with Flowers – Fruits would also have symbolism for different things, but was most often used to reference religion
Breakfast Pieces – often painted in landscape to accommodate a large table. Food would often be shown as half eaten for realism.
Vanitas Paintings – A metaphor for transience (being aware of one’s own mortality) often shown with skulls and killed game which referenced the inevitability of death, Hourglass/watch represented the passage of time and an empty glass showed the general emptiness of life to only name a few symbols.
Trompe L’Oeil – opposite of Vanitas; they show the brighter, more illusionistic game piece or objects.
Curtain Paintings – draped theatrical curtain pulled to the side or knotted up in the foreground of the painting to show a sort of self-aware viewpoint.
Chantournés and Easels – Similar to Curtain paintings in concept, the subject is shown on its easel or a wooden frame that was a part of the presentation of the paintings
Still life is a form of artistic expression that dates back to the middle ages. It is a form of art that typically contains inanimate objects such as dead animals, Foodstuffs, and man made objects such as vases and goblets. Originally, Still life paintings were commissioned by the wealthy as a display of wealth and power. Throughout the colonial period, A typical still life painting would consist of various exotic imports such as gold, coffee and precious metals.
Still life is popular among artists due to the freedom of expression through the arrangement and emphasis placed on certain objects and it was also used as a medium to portray many philosophical messages, Such as representations of life, mortality and politics.
The very earliest examples of still life were found in the tombs of ancient Egyptian pharaohs. It was believed that the paintings of foodstuffs and riches would become real in the afterlife and would help serve the deceased pharaoh. Ancient Greek vase paintings also depicted scenes of fruits and wealth, many still life paintings were also created in mosaic form on the floors of wealthy villas and regal temples
Many early still life paintings from the Roman Era up until very recently have contained images of skulls, Which represent mortality and decay. These images are often accompanied by the Latin phrase “Omnia Mors Aequat” meaning “Death makes all equal”
The emergence of oil painting made the creation and painting of these still life images much more realistic due to the ability to layer paints on top of one another. In this time the main emphasis of the paintings was on religious symbolism, however Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the first artists to break free from this trend and explore the origins of still life, Who went into studying fruits and painting these in watercolour
In the 20th Century, Matisse adapted still life portraits to include multi coloured backgrounds, exploring features of abstraction and symbolism
Examples of Still life Paintings
Pieter Claesz 1597-1660 Still life portrait depicting a skull representative of mortality featuring a writing quill and candle holder as well as glass goblet. The toppled goblet and toothless skull serve as symbols of berevity and lossCharles Cerny 1892-1965 A still life painting depicting various objects typical to the subject of male grooming in the early 20th century. The image portrays themes such as masculinity and male image
Unknown artist-1990s/2000s Image depicts singular Nike Air Jordan, Toffee sweets and a mug. Image typical of modern teen culture, exploring ideas of materialism
An environmental portrait is a portrait executed in the subject’s usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject’s life and surroundings. The term is most frequently used of a genre of photography.
By photographing a person in their natural surroundings, it is thought that you will be able to better illuminate their character, and therefore portray the essence of their personality, rather than merely a likeness of their physical features. It is also thought that by photographing a person in their natural surroundings, the subject will be more at ease, and so be more conducive to expressing themselves, as opposed to in a studio, which can be a rather intimidating and artificial experience
The main use of environmental photography is to help explain a certain period in time or a certain person’s lifestyle. There are many famous photographs that were taken during the Great Depression, and these photos would definitely constitute as environmental photos. Whenever you are taking a photo that explains the environment of that period of time, you are taking an environmental photography.
Past Experience
This is my second time experimenting with environmental photography as i have done it n the past on my 2019 blog post in which were i explored Arnold Newman’s environment.
Plan
This time i’m exploring my current home environment using environmental photography, i which where i will photograph my guardians in their home doing whatever they normally do so i can capture them as naturally as possible, i wont ask them to pose for me or i might not even tell them that i’m photographing them. then i’m going to photograph my room mate doing whatever he normally would be doing.
Finishing up
After taking all the photographs i need i will make a contact sheet on light room cc to chose the best portraits that i will be using, and i will edit these best photos on light room as well until i’m happy with them, after that i will be posting them on my blog post.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the point of my whole project is to experiment with environmental photography and increase my experience in it meanwhile i will be demonstrating how the people at my current home live. On the other hand i will also be expanding my skills in editing.
