Emotional response:  My response to first seeing the photo was that the man in the foreground is quite intimidating and mysterious. There are big differences between light levels, saturation, and contrast within the photo. The man is wearing a suit which shows that he is quite an important person as suits were more expensive than today.

Visual: The man in the middle looks around 75-80 years old, he is lent forward with his hands together (with his fingers intertwined) and is resting his chin on them. The man is less lit than the background which gives a sense of cruelty and mystery about him. He is also in the stereotypical villain pose which makes him more easily associated with being a bad person.

The background also has a lot of contrast, this helps distinguish the trains from the production lines and makes the whole photo more attractive to the eye as it is more colourful.

Technical:  The windows at the top  let in more light into the photo as well as giving it more structure as they consist of strong lines. As they windows get further away they appear smaller which draws the eye into the centre of the photo.

The photo is symetrical through the middle, This balance makes it more attractive as people instinctively prefer symetrical objects/things.

The photo was taken with a shorter exposure. This was probably done to avoid overexposing the background; which is more lit than the foreground. This results in the foreground being darker, which works for this photo as it makes the man look more sinister (which was the intent).

Conceptual: The subject of the photo was Alfred Krupp. He was made to look as sinister as possible in this photo because the photographer (Arnold Newman) was Jewish and Alfred Krupp was a nazi, so this photo was Arnold’s ‘bit of revenge’.

The image below was taken by Arnold Newman, of Alfried Krupp in 1963. This photograph is one of Newman’s well known images due to hidden message and ideas that can be taken from this environmental portrait.

I have annotated this photograph in order to show how Newman has used leading lines, to move viewers eyes around the frame. As well as the use of the rule of thirds within this image.

Emotional Response

When I first looked at this image my eyes where immediately drawn to the mysterious man located in the center of the frame. He is an ‘old white man’ which can be seen through his grey hair and wrinkles on his skin. He is giving direct eye contact with the camera and has his head looking slightly down whilst doing this, creating a sinister and mysterious look. It makes us question what he is doing and why. His hands are joined together and place underneath his chin, resting on the hands. Due to this it also adds to the idea that the subject is up to no good. Krupp is found in a suit, showing his high status during the time. He is found sat at a working train station which seems to run down. This makes us question why Krupp is at the train station

Technical Response

The image is presented in color which allows rust/dirt in the station to be more visible. Moreover, it almost makes the picture come to life and allow us to create more ideas about the man in our mind. The background is busy, which informs us that it is a busy train station. The use of leading lines is presented by the ceiling lights. It is used to help direct the viewers eyes around the frame of the photograph, taking in all the details helping us to form an opinion and concept about the image. The man seems to be framed by the walls, which shows segregation between Krupp and what is happening behind him. It also reminds us the status that he is and presents the idea that he is the reason for why what is happening behind him is happening. The clear formal elements which are presented through this image is line, through the trains and ceiling/building structure. Texture can be seen through the rust and different objects which are found within the train station. The depth of field found in this image is large as well as the aperture is high, as nothing seems to be completely out of focus in the image. However, there is a sharper focus on Krupp, which suggests his importance to the setting and situation. The lighting found within the station is quite dark and the image is under exposed which shows how run down and bad the environment of the station was. However, Krupp is lit up also illuminating his importance compared to the station. The image seems to have used a quick shatter speed as no intended blur can be found within the image. In  addition, a little noise can be found due to the lighting suggesting that the ISO is likely to be slightly be high but not too high.

Contextual Response

Newman wanted to capture Krupp as a part of his environmental series in 1963. Krupp was an industrialist. However, Krupp was found to be transporting weapons and materials during the second world war. In contrast, Newman was Jewish and did not agree with the same viewpoints as Krupp. Newman still wanted to capture Krupp and managed to persuade him through his portfolios. When capturing the images of Krupp, Newman attempted to portray Krupp as an evil person. This can clearly be seen through the image above.

Conceptual Response

The intended message trying to be presented in this photograph is that there is a man located in this run down train station, who can potentially be the owner of the company. Due to his facial expressions and positioning it makes it seem that he is up to no good and is planning something evil. Many more interpretations can be made about this image, however I believe that this is the most prominent.

ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAITS

It is a portrait where the subject is photographed within an environment that they are usually in, it could be a profession or a hobby. This type of portrait allows the photographer to show what type of person the subject it depending on their environment and it illuminates the their character. By the subject looking directly into the camera, it allows the viewer to feel a connection between the two sources. The environment is always used as a background and it can range from large and busy to small and simple, the background isn’t the main part of the image, its the subject themselves as they draw most of the attention towards themselves as they are telling the story behind the image.

EXPERIMENTATION

These are images I took when experimenting with environmental portraits. In some of these images I used flash to create a dramatic lighting effect. I also regularly  changed the shutter speed which was dependent on how dark or light the background was. Some of my images where too exposed this is because my shutter speed was too slow and ISO was to high, which meant the camera was sensitive to the amount of light I was letting into the image, with the image being over exposed it made the image become more white than it was. My images have a wider range of variety, as I went to different environments in a school so this helped with me adjusting the manual settings on the camera. The meaning behind these images it to show the students and teachers in their everyday environment doing their work and where they are mostly seen. With these subject being put in their everyday environment it is easier for the viewer to make a connection and an understanding as the environment it relatable especially for sutdents.

Arnold Newman

Arnold Newman was an American photographer, mostly known to be the one who flourished ‘environmental portraiture’, in which the photographer places the subject in a carefully controlled setting to capture the essence of the individual’s life and work. Newman normally captured his subjects in their most familiar surroundings with representative visual elements showing their professions and personalities. Even without knowing who the subject is, a viewer can identify the artist in his studio, or a musician at the keyboard, or a president at his desk. Newman’s best-known images were in black and white, although he often photographed in colour. His portraits ranged from celebrities, artists to politicians. Newman insisted that a picture of a celebrity or politician by himself wouldn’t be as meaningful as one taken in the subject’s workplace. The viewers can tell that his portraits are planned because of the carefully composed environment and the posed subject.

His style

Although his style evolved, backgrounds always played a leading role in his photographs. Through his environmental painters’ portraits you can see how he carefully chooses backgrounds to fit with the style of painting these painters created. Most of Newman’s personal works were the result of long social interaction with the subject. After getting to know the subject in a broad way, the photographs began to happen. Newman captured images that he had in mind from the beginning, which was the essence of his photographic style. In all his environmental portraits, Newman included representative elements of the subject’s profession. Sometimes Newman’s photographs have different compositional approach in which the subjects is close to the corners of the frame. This was probably a reflection of the great care he took to show as much as possible of the subject’s surroundings.

My response

To respond to Arnold Newman’s photography work, I captured images of people in their familiar surroundings or their workplace. Since Newman is best known for his black and white images I decided to edit the final outcomes on photoshop by applying the black and white filter and slightly adjusting the contrast and brightness. A large amount of background can be seen through my images as this was an important aspect in his photographs to show the viewers the subjects representative elements. I think these images replicate Arnold Newman’s photographic style since they are black and white environmental portraits which have been captured using his techniques. However, to improve I could have photographed more people in their working environments and taken pictures of subjects that I’m not familiar with.