“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”

The environmental approach has the subject in their environment be that a work, leisure, social or family life. They are usually taken without the subject fully taking notice of the camera, so that the image shows the true essence of that moment in time. However, some portraits are taken with the subjects staring into the camera to add more depth and meaning. Environmental pictures can have good historical and social significance, as they are primary sources of information.

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Environmental photography portrays a strong meaning as it expresses the interests of each individual, in their regular environment, and is a effective photography technique

Urban landscapes is an approach to urban design in which the elements of cities, water, land-form, vegetation, vertical structures and horizontal structures are composed: visually, functionally and technically with regard to human use and the landscape context.

Urban landscapes photography about making images of man-made constructions within the city. It is about isolating the smaller parts the city is built upon, as buildings, bridges, and streets.

I think it is a variation of sort, of cityscape photography, but it focuses more on details within the city. These details are not the people but the architectural aspects and street photography. In urban landscapes, we preferably want to avoid too many people in the images because then it can turn into street photography.

I only edited this set of images very slightly and subtly to keep the integrity of the original images and the true essence of each working environment.

With this image I decided to make it black and white, to tone down the cluttered effect of all the different colours and also to reduce the yellow tone of the lighting. I then edited the brightness and contrast slightly, as well as the vibrancy and tone of certain colours, for example I lowered the vibrancy of the colours used in the pins on the desk wall in order to make them darker and have them stand out against the white papers.

For the second image, I ended up having a slightly chiaroscuro effect, as half of my subject’s face is in shadow, but it is subtle enough as not to obscure the whole image. I had the subject stare directly down the lens to create a posed effect, as well as arranging the magazines to display some of the products that are sold and places they could be sold to. I chose to have the subject wear her glasses to add more structure to the face and tie in with the dark colour of the jumper.

The black and white images above mirror the style of iconic environmental photographer Arnold Newman, so as to show how I used his work as inspiration for my own photoshoots.

For this image I increased the magenta and red saturation and vibrancy to bring into focus the meat in the foreground and the woman’s apron. This emphasised her job as a butcher and made the image more pleasing to look at. I felt that the reflections of the glass worked nicely to add some highlights to contrast the (unfortunately) dark background of the image, which I was not able to change without drastically changing the colour palette of the photo.

This image is mainly white, so when editing, I made the bright colours stand out, mainly to try and get the pink of the fish in more detail but also to enhance to vibrancy of the various backgrounds objects scattered around that show that this is a workplace. I like the composition of this image, as the fishmonger looking directly into the lens without a posed expression makes the image interesting, and the geometrical feature of all three workers in the same section of the image helps to brings attention to the main worker’s eyes and face.

I edited this image in much the same way as the last one, except now I made the fish the man is cutting brighter and the most vibrant part of the photo. This drew attention to his knife and his actual job as a fishmonger, which is obviously the main focus of the image.

I edited this final image the least, as I felt that the cluttered effect created by the large amount of background objects helped to bring the subject out as the focus of the image, as it is the only vaguely clear part of the photo. I made the colours more vibrant and saturated, however I felt that the flowers were already bright enough so as not to need much editing. I tweaked the levels and contrast slightly also, in order to have the beam of light from above brighter and focus more of the person, as I saw that during the shoot and felt it would make for a good image.

Overall, I feel that I was successful in presenting a range of images of people in various occupations, posed in a manner that reflects their jobs and the way that they work, as well as sometimes adding a more candid feel to certain images by using different angles and capturing natural facial expressions. If I were to do this project again, I would have a selection of more clearly posed images alongside some natural, candid images for each person.

Below are my favourite outcomes in response to the candid portraiture, as they are interesting and eyecatching.

final image one

This is one of my final outcomes because I enjoy the dramatic pose the individual is performing and the natural face they are making. The background is not distracting from the pose, meaning it is the most important thing in the image. If I were to take this photograph again, I would try to not cut off the feet, to allow for the photograph to be more aesthetically pleasing. I would also try to take a close up of the face, meaning I would have more of a selection when it came to picking my final images.

final image two

This is one of my final images, as I like the expression on the individuals face, as it is very strong and focused. I also like the way I have edited the background to make it more interesting and attractive. If I were to take this photograph again, I would try to make sure the face was more in focus, meaning I could gain a much stronger picture. I would also try to take this shot from different angles, as I seem to shoot from the same angle, meaning all my photographs look similar and that can be boring for the viewer.

final image three

This is one of my final images because I find have really captured a truly candid shot, as the expression on the individuals’ face is natural and silly. When planning this photoshoot I intended to capture photographs similar to this, as I wanted to capture joy and happiness on my individuals face. This photograph captures the same essence as one of ROBERT FRANKS photographs (displayed below), as they both display the same facial expression. Even though the face is not in focus, I think it still looks sharp as the background is in focus. If I were to take this photograph again, I would try to get more light into the individuals’ eye, as it is dull and not illuminated. To do this, I could have positioned myself in a better place, or increased the exposure a touch more, when I edited the photograph.

whole shoot evaluation

Overall, i felt these pictures came out very well. Even though this was my first time using my camera to take pictures of people, I was impressed with my own camera skills. I don’t think many of my images related to ROBERT FRANK, as they didn’t all capture the same things he did. However, I really do like most of the photographs because of how bright, and interesting they are to look at. if I were to do this whole shoot again, I think I would try to capture my individual more times, even when walking around the gym, meaning I would have more images to choose from when picking out final images.

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Best Outcome

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After changing the ISO, shutter speed and aperture i was able to get some good quality pictures by allowing the perfect amount of light to come in. This photo is a close up photo mainly focusing on his face.

I have created a chiarascuro effect by casting light on one side of the face only. This is an effect that has been used by artists for many centuries and produces a dramatic effect in film too.

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French humanist photographer. He was considered by many to be a master of candid / street photography, and an early user of 35 mm film. He created the genre of street photography, and viewed photography as capturing a decisive moment. Cartier-Bresson was one of the founding members of Magnum Photos in 1947. Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its members, with offices in New York City, Paris, London and Tokyo.

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Cartier – Bresson’s mostly works in black and white and focus’s on elements such as reflection, motion/movement and framing.

He founded the Magnum Photo Agency in 1947 along with 3 other photographers at the time. Magnum Photos now consists of around 80 members who all help run the agency. Magnum Photos also attained the copyrights to all of Cartier – Bresson’s work after he passed away at the age of 96.

Street photography comes from taking photos of people or events close up and in the moment. Catching people off guard can often lead to a good street photograph or using a more subtle approach of taking photos of random people doing small, insignificant but interesting things.

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These photos are example of Martin Parr’s street photography work. He adopts a heavy use of colours to emphasis his images and possibly increase the sense of chaos they often give off. Most of his work seems to be asking the question of what is actually going on as some appear rather bizarre and peculiar.

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I decided to photograph this person as i felt his age and clothes gave a good vibe. He is a mail man at a finance firm in jersey. I found this interesting as all his colleagues were wearing suits and expensive watches but somehow he was chatting to them as if there was no barrier between the mail man and the directors. The cigarette in his mouth was a good focus for the lens. i choose to make one image black and white as it made the image timeless.

Below are my final outcomes in response to environmental portraiture, as they are interesting and eye catching.

final image one

This is one of my final images, as I think is very eye catching and the pose the individual is in is interesting, and also relates to the environment they are in, which is the gym. The eye contact is very strong, which I also think is a striking element part of this photograph and adds interest for the viewer. The composition is also strong to as the bar is framing the photograph. If I were to take this photograph again, I would shoot it in front of a better background, as this one is kind of distracting, and doesn’t really relate to the gym.

final image two

This is one of my final images, as I enjoy the linear aspects of the photograph as it is very aesthetically pleasing, and easy on the eye. The individual is captured straight on, which also is nice to look at and relates to documentary portraiture too. Overall I think this is a very nice photograph as there are no distractions, the individual is holding eye contact and the colours are prominent and bold. If I were to take this photograph again, I would try and get more of the legs in, as then it would include more of the linear aspects into the photograph.

final image three

This is one of my final images, as I find it has the best background, which relates to my individuals environment, because it shows most of the gym. Although the gyms layout is not very aesthetically pleasing, it shows the best response to the environmental portraiture. If I were to take this photograph again, I would focus more on the face as it is slightly blurred, which brings down the overall quality of the image.

whole shoot evaluation

Overall, I felt these photographs came out quite well. This was my first time using my camera to take pictures of people, so I was impressed with my own camera skills. I don’t think the closely related to ARNOLD NEWMAN, but I think that is because I was nervous to tell the individual to change their position and go to another area of the gym.

If I were to conduct this shoot again, I would try to get more shots at different areas of the gym, meaning when it came to the selection process, I would have more of a choice of backgrounds. This means that I would have more of a varied array of photographs. I would also try and focus the camera better, as some of the photographs came out blurred. Next time, I would try to direct my individual in a more efficient way, as some of the photographs didn’t really come out well because the individual wasn’t where I wanted them to be.