Portrait photography, or portraiture, is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective lighting, backdrops, and poses. There are many different types of portrait photography, including; traditional, lifestyle, environmental, candid, street, glamour, fine art, conceptual and surreal.

IMAGE ANALYSIS

August Sander chose to photograph this bricklayer as a part of his work ‘The People of the 20th Century’. His aim was to show all walks of life including doctors, farmers, chefs etc., in a post – WWI Germany. Sander’s photographs were the first body of work to document a culture through photography. In this photograph, the main point of focus is the man’s head, as it is being framed by the layers of bricks stacked behind him. However it could be argued that the bricks are actually the main focal point, as the man’s face is blurred, which contrasts to the in-focus bricks behind him. The way that the bricklayer is holding himself suggests to the viewer that he is proud of his profession and lifestyle, as his stance is very intimidating and authoritative. The lighting in this image appears to be coming from the upper right hand corner, and is casting a shadow across the bricklayers body whilst also illuminating and highlighting his head and the bricks stacked behind him, which again draws the viewer’s eye to these particular points of focus. There is a varying range of shadows across the photograph, with dark shadows being casted across the lower half of the man’s body on the left side of the image, whilst the right side and upper half is well-lit.