August Sander was a German photographer who attempted to produce an extensive photographic document of German people. He was the son of a mine worker, and Sander did the same work initially as his father. He got his first camera in 1892 and took up photography as a hobby. After the military he pursued it professionally, working in a series of photographic studios in Germany. By 1904 he had his own studio in Linz and after his army service in World War I he settled permanently in Cologne and became friends with photographers and painters dedicated to the New Objectivity. After photographing local farmers near Cologne, Sander was inspired to produce a series of portraits of German people from all levels of society. His portraits were usually sharp, photographed straight on in natural light, while the subjects class and profession was shown through clothing, gesture, and backdrop.

Contextual: Sander was a German portrait and documentary photographer. During the nazi period he struggled to maintain his job. This image was in Sander’s portrait photo book ‘Face of our Times’ which was published in 1929, and also appears in the first volume of Sander’s incomplete project ‘People of the twentieth century’ which was planned as an extensive series of portraits of the German population, classified into seven groups by social class. These farmers, influenced by popular culture and advertising, may represent a trend that saw workers move away from the land towards the city.

Visual: There are three figures standing in the foreground against an out of focus landscape. The repetition of each figure’s posture, their walking sticks, dark suits, and hats creates a lateral rhythm across the picture plane. Each figure is looking directly at the camera. The shapes of their heads and hats are depicted against the blank sky. Their expressions are serious. Their shared pose is a mixture of formal (stiff posture) and informal (cigarette. They appear to be on their way to an event and have dressed up formal. They are not in their usual work clothes. The rule of thirds is used to locate each figure from left to right and top to bottom. There is also an implied movement from left to right since their feet are pointing towards their destination.

Technical: Apparently this image was taken with a large format glass plate camera on a tripod with a long shutter speed ( common in portrait photographs). The photographer uses available early evening light. Shallow depth of field can also be seen through the image which has been caused by a relatively wide aperture and focal length of the lens.

I wanted to look at Jeff Mermelstein’s work as it seems to focus mostly on people doing everyday acts and living normal lives, and this is what I wanted to highlight in my photo shoot.  Jeff Mermelstein was born in 1957 in New Jersey, and is perhaps most known for his detailed photographical documentation of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and their aftermath. However he also has extensive experience in ‘everyday life’ street photography, capturing some of the strange and interesting things people do on a regular basis. Mermelstein studied at Rutgers College and the International Center of Photography and went on to have images printed in publications such as LIFE, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Magazine.

Mermelstein now lives in New York City and this is where most of his street photographs come from. Due to the busy, rushing and cramped streets of New York, it provides him with a lot of opportunity to get interesting pictures. He has also taught at the International Center of Photography in New York since 1988 and has released 4 books over the course of his career(“SideWalk”-1999, “Side walk: Per le strade di New York”-1999, “No Title Here”-2001, “Twirl×Run”-2009). For my Practical photo shoot I will be trying to use some of the techniques used in Mermelstein’s work, and try to imitate elements of his photography into my own.

One of the images that stuck out to me was this image below, as it has multiple ‘layers’; What I mean by this is that by using a shallow focus, Mermelstein has created multiple areas of focus. As you can see, the most obvious thing that immediately stands out is the reflection in the woman’s glasses, with the sharp reflections of the buildings across the street, however, in using this depth of field, he also has the people in the background of the shot in focus, making the city seem so busy at ground level, but the reflection in the glasses make it seem much more tranquil and quiet in comparison to the bustling crowd behind.

An environmental portrait is a portrait captured  in the subjects usual environment, such as in their home or workplace. The setting typically illuminates the subject’s life and surroundings. 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 their physical features. Photographing a person in their natural surroundings will make the subject feel more comfortable so they will express themselves more, as opposed to in a studio, which can be a rather intimidating and an artificial experience. The background is an important aspect in environmental portraiture and is used to show further information about the person being photographed. Small apertures and a large depth of field are mostly used in this type of photography. The symbolism expressed through the various elements in the background are effective when taking an environmental portrait.