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.
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 surroundings or background is a key element in environmental portraiture, and is used to convey further information about the person being photographed.
Where it is common in studio portraiture and even in location candid photography to shoot using a shallow depth of field, thereby throwing the background out of focus, the background in environmental portraiture is an integral part of the image. Small apertures and great depth of field are commonly used in this type of photography.
Examples of some photographers
Anthony Kurtz
Born in California, USA in 1979, there is a rich,cinematic and painterly quality to Anthony´s photography which not only drew the attention of the advertising industry but has also been honored with some of the world’s top photography awards. Anthony Kurtz currently lives in Berlin, Germany
This image is of a model standing in front of a famous Berlin monument called the ‘Brandenburg Gate’which was located in no-man’s land between East and West Germany during the Cold War, this famous monument, built during the 18th-century this monument has long been a defining symbol of Berlin and both the city’s division and unification. The name of the photograph is ‘Bundestag’. Definition of Bundestag : an assembly of representatives of a bund (such as the assembly of the German Confederacy of 1815 or the lower house of parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany)