Environmental portraits

An environmental portrait is a portrait which focuses on the individual or group of people surroundings rather then the actual people in the photograph. For example this could be participants workplace or home life but typically the background always has a meaning to the people in the image and could be argued that its a reflection of themselves. Furthermore its suggest that by photographing people in their natural environment you are more likely to get an understanding and grasp their true characteristics and therefore portray an essence of the unique personality traits asides to just getting a physical understanding from their own physical features- leave room for more interpretation and story telling. As well as these point due to the fact the model will be in their own environment it’s much likely they will be much more comfortable and will therefore be more relaxed during the shoot compared if they were in the studio, where its likely they will feel more awkward and possibly produce more rigid photographs. All this in mind its key to consider the details of the surroundings, whilst i have already suggested that the background may dominate the subject, it is not always the case. In fact there have been many environmental photographers that have conveyed messages through the use of the background in a subtle way however still be proven to be significant. Overall highlighting the importance and the thought that needs to go in to the individual and their background in order create meaning and purpose for that person in particular.

For my own environmental portraits I will be looking closely at Larry Sultan and Alec Soth own environmental portraits to help give me inspiration in order to create my own images, this will help benefit my own work and allow room for development. For my own shoot for environmental portraits i will use the methodology of my own home and my family environment in order to add a more personal touch and will give me opportunity to add my own ideas.

Some of Larry Sultan and Alec Soth’s environmental portraits:

Planning my own environmental portraits- Getting to know my subjects

Robert Gow- father

• 50 years male patterned with Veronica Blair
• Works as a computer engineer for a building company and require him to travel round the island to different buildings in order to help with the computer aspects of the property
• Works from 8am-7m, Monday to Saturday and occasionally a Sunday if he is required to come in
• In Roberts spare time he enjoys gardening with his girlfriend and working on projects- most recently building and electric bike from scratch. As well as going out for family meal to his favourite restaurant and a big soft spot for his two kittens
• He spends most of his time in the garage working on his personal projects or overtime projects for his work, as well as his paintings on the walls and cleaning his pride possession of his rose red race car.

Veronica Blair- Mother

• 50 years old girlfriend to Robert Gow
• Works a directorial manager at a Trust company, working with her clients in person and online. She has suggested that its an extremely stressful and busy job due to the large work load and long hours.
• Works from 7am-8/9pm on a Monday through to Sunday and gets a day off which changes each week depending on her clients, work load and family
• In Veronica’s spare time she likes to spend time in the garden with her boyfriend when she has the time, enjoy playing Mario cart with the family and much like my dad loves going out for dinner at her favourite restaurant
• For my mum, her favourite room in the house where she spends the most time is the kitchen as it normally where we will sit as a family or where I do my homework, this is because due to the fact she is always very busy when she is home she likes to spend as much time as she can with her boyfriend and me

I live with both my subjects and therefore know rich in depth detail about both their personality traits and therefore I will get a better opportunity to really grasp the importance of surroundings that will truly reflect the key significance of the background to each subject. My action plan is further grasp both my parents opinions on the importance of our own house hold and to reflect their personality and their belief through photographs.