ENVIRONMENTAL portraits

An environmental portrait is a portrait taken of a person or people in a situation that they live in and a place that says something about who they are. It is often a place of work, rest or play.

Mood Board

This is a selection of different occupations and workers within their environment. This mood board gives an idea of what i wish my final outcomes will picture.

Arnold Newman

Arnold Newman is often credited with being the photographer who articulated and who consistently photographed the genre of environmental portraiture, in which the photographer uses a carefully framed and lit setting, and its contents, to symbolize the individual’s life and work. Newman’s career stretched over the 1940s through to 1960s.

Photo Analysis

Arnold Newman - YouTube
Arnold Newman

This photo depicts a conductor Leonard Bernstein in the center of the photo. The under-exposure of the background creates a contrast between the empty chair and the focus point. The angle at which the lens is capturing the conductor from, shifts the authority of the photo, this contradicts the environment as the conductor holds the authority in this orchestral workspace.

Contact sheet

Edited Photos

When editing these photos, I edited them to black and white photos to correlate my response to environmental photos to Newman’s work.

Final Image

I chose this image as i feel it most displays the models environment of his work place. His offset positioning opens up the background to allow the eye to wonder and admire the workplace in more depth. At first look, this photo illustrates a rule of 3 composition, splitting the photo into 3 vertical sections.