What is an environmental portrait?

An environmental portrait is a photograph of a person, often posed, taken in a location that is individually relevant to the subject. Environmental portraits are frequently photographed in an everyday setting such as the home, place of work, or another personally meaningful locale. Good environmental portraits will tell strong stories of their subjects. Their immediate surroundings will give the viewer insight into where these people are, what they do, and who they are.

Some environmental portrait photographers..

Paul Strand (1890–1976)

Arnold Newman (1918–2006)

Daniel Mordzinski (1960 — )

Michelle Sank

Annie Leibovitz (1949 — )

Mary Ellen Mark (1940–2015)

Jimmy Nelson (1967 — )

Sara Facio (1932 — )

Photoshoot ideas development

1. Two or more people — parents gardening
   1. take two photos of parents in morning evening to capture lighting changing throughout the day
2. Take photo at skatepark of two or more people
   1. Photo taken in afternoon
   2. Person 1 – Ben holding skateboard
   3. Person 2 – somebody skating in the background
3. Take photo at newlook of cassie
   1. photo of her working behind the tills

Michelle Sank

Michelle Sank was born in Cape Town, South Africa. She left there in 1978 and has been living in England since 1987. Her images reflect a preoccupation with the human condition and to this end can be viewed as social documentary. Her work encompasses issues around social and cultural diversity. ‘I am interested in how adolescence is marked by rites of passage that are reflective of cultural values and how this is expressed within ethnically diverse communities in the Black Country. I am exploring the way these rituals often mark a socially recognized transition to adulthood and responsibility and to some recognition of sexual maturity. I will document how these rites of passage can differ from male to female and how the emphasis on body image, performance and dress are a personal means of expression.‘ She has once visited Jersey and made a collection of photographs she took there, titled ‘Insula’.

Contact Sheets

First i organized all my photos into folders; exterior, interior, portraits, objects, and animals. Then I rated the photos with stars for example one star would be a blurry photo with bad lighting and 5 stars would be a really high quality photo.

Editing Process

I made this photo darker to put more emphasis on the natural lighting coming from the window, but still kept focus on the woman in the photo.

Contact Sheets

Edited photos

What were the Corn Riots?

In 1769,  Islanders became frustrated with food shortages & rising prices. In 1767, people protested about the export of grain from the Island. Anonymous threats were made against shipowners and a law was passed in 1768 to keep corn in Jersey. In August 1769 the States of Jersey repealed this law, claiming that there were enough crops in the Island to provide Islanders with enough food. There was suspicion that this was a lie to raise the price of wheat, which would be beneficial to the rich, many of whom had ‘rentes’ owed to them on properties that were payable in wheat. This led to a storming of the Royal Court by around 500 Islanders in what became known as The Corn Riots. Recently there was a festival to mark the 250th anniversary of the Corn Riots from the 24th-27th of September. The demands of the Corn Riots protestors included:

• That the price of wheat be lowered and set at 20 sols per cabot

• That his Majesty’s tithes be reduced to 20 sols per vergée.

• That the value of the liard coin be set to 4 per sol.

• That there should be a limit on the sales tax.

• That seigneurs stop enjoying the practice of champart (the right to every twelfth sheaf of corn or bundle of flax).

• That seigneurs end the right of ‘Jouir des Successions’(the right to enjoy anyone’s estate for a year and a day if they die without heirs).

• That branchage fines could no longer be imposed.

• That Rectors could no longer charge tithes except on apples.

• That charges against Captain Nicholas Fiott be dropped and that he be allowed to return to the Island without an inquiry.

• That the Customs’ House officers be ejected.

In the summer of 1769, a ship loaded with corn for export was raided by a group of women who demanded that the sailors unload their cargo and sell it in the Island. ‘Let us die on the spot, rather than by languishing in famine. God hath given us corn, and we will keep it, in spite of the Lemprières, and the court, for if we trust to them they will starve us’

Other protests

Queen’s Valley is Jersey’s biggest reservoir holding up to 262 million gallons of water. In the late 1970’s there were plans to flood the valley, which caused outrage and led to a protest.

There were two campaign groups who organised protests against flooding the valley on environmental grounds. They were ‘Save our valley’ (pictured above) and ‘Concern’. It’s estimated around 8 thousand people marched through the valley at the height of the protests.

My favourite photos from the Jersey Museum trip

A Cyanotype is an alternative photographic process where light sensitive chemicals can be applied to paper, wood, or fabric, and an image becomes exposed through UV light such as the sun. Images placed on the surface can range from plants, objects, digital and analogue film negatives. After exposure, the exposed surface is developed with water and a blue and white image appears. This process uses two chemicals: ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide creating light sensitivity and the brilliant cyan colour.

History of Cyanotypes

The cyanotype process was historically used in the late 1800’s as a way to make blueprints and English botanist and photographer Anna Atkins was one of the first artists to make “photograms” by placing plant specimens directly onto the surface to create an image. She then went on to produce the worlds first photographically illustrated book, Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions. Although Anna Atkins was the first person to use Cyanotypes for photography, it was invented by John Herschel in 1842 in order to reproduce his notes and drawings.

The simplest kind of cyanotype print is a photogram. which is made by arranging objects on sensitised paper. Fresh or pressed plants/flowers are more commonly used but any solid object will create an image. A sheet of glass will press flat objects into close contact with the paper, resulting in a sharp image. Otherwise, three-dimensional objects or less than flat ones will create a more or less blurred image.

Process of making a Cyanotype

THE CAMERA OBSCURA

The roots of photography extend back further than you might think. In the 4th Century BC, Aristotle made use of the principles of the camera obscura, in which an image is projected through a small hole.

THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPH

The photo below titled ‘View from the window at Le Gras’ is thought to be one of the oldest surviving photos ever. It was taken by Nicéphore Niépce in his estate in France called Saint-Loup-de-Varennes somewhere between 1826 and 1827. Niépce captured the scene with a camera obscura projected onto a pewter plate thinly coated with  a naturally occurring asphalt before letting the photo sit for 8 hours to gather exposure.

INVENTION OF THE KODAK

The kodak camera was released in 1888 by George Eastman. George Eastman invented flexible roll film and in 1888 introduced the Kodak camera shown to use this film. It took 100-exposure rolls of film that gave circular images 2 5/8″ in diameter. In 1888 the original Kodak sold for $25 loaded with a roll of film and included a leather carrying case. The Original Kodak was fitted with a rotating barrel shutter unique to this model. The shutter was set by pulling up a string on top of the camera and operated by pushing a button on the side of the camera. After taking a photograph, a key on top of the camera was used to wind the film onto the next frame. After 100 pictures had been taken on the film strip, the camera would be returned to the Kodak factory for developing and printing at a cost of $10. Kodak advertisements from 1888 also state that any amateur could “finish his own pictures” and spare rolls of film were sold for $2.

INVENTION OF MOVING PICTURES

One of the biggest impacts photography has had was the invention of moving pictures. Photography became a part of public life in the mid-19th century, especially during the Civil War, when photographers documented American battlefields for the first time. Experimenting with ways to exhibit photographs, several inventors came up with a simple toy that made it possible for a series of pictures to be viewed in rapid succession, creating the illusion of motion. It was called a zoetrope. On October 19, 1878, Scientific American published a series of pictures showing a horse galloping, along with instructions to view them through the zoetrope.

The photos were called ‘The Horse in Motion’ and were taken by an English photographer, Eadweard Muybridge, to settle a bet between California businessman Leland Stanford and his colleagues. Stanford contended that at some point in a horse’s stride, all four hooves were off the ground. He enlisted Muybridge to take photographs of the positions of a horse’s hooves in rapid succession. Muybridge’s 12 pictures showed that Stanford had won the bet.

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Steven Sasson invented the digital camera at Kodak in 1975.It weighed 8 pounds (3.6 kg) and had only 100 × 100 resolution. The image was recorded onto a cassette and this process took 23 seconds. His camera took images in black and white. As he set out on his design project, what he wanted for the future was a camera without mechanical moving parts (although his device did have moving parts, for example, the tape drive).  He built a prototype from a movie camera lens, a handful of Motorola parts, 16 batteries and some newly invented Fairchild CCD electronic sensors. The resulting camera, pictured below in 2007, was the size of a printer and weighed nearly 4 kilograms. 

The history of Hamptonne traces back to the 15th century. With its numerous granite buildings, it provides a story of Jersey rural life throughout the years. It has houses and a farm, most of which have been restored and refurnished over time but are still reminiscent of what Jersey life used to be like across the centuries.

On our trip to Hamptonne, we explored the different houses, which are named after the families who have lived at Hamptonne.

The architecture of the Langlois house is similar to that in medieval Brittany. The rooms below were used for the livestock, whilst the rooms above were for the family.

The Hamptonne house was extended and transformed a number of times. A second storey was added in the 16th century, and another two-storey extension was built at the end of the 17th century.

The Syvret house was built on the site during the 1830’s. It is the most recent house on the site. The rooms are extremely high, and are typical of the large houses built in St. Helier at the time.

We got to photograph a woman in the house which gave us a chance to experiment with different lighting and angles as we moved around the room.

We also explored the cider apple orchard and the farm, which is home to many animals and also gives an insight on life in the 19th-20th century as Hamptonne has ran a farm for centuries.

Farm outbuildings became more important during the 19th century, as they were converted into amenities for the farmers and their families.

The northern yard was created in the late 19th century. It contained stables, a carriage house, a bakehouse, a washhouse, farm-labourers’ accommodation and an open shed.

Photography is a way of taking an image with a camera. The five main features of a standard camera are;

ISO. ISO is your camera sensor’s sensitivity to light.

Shutter Speed. This is the amount of time that your camera’s shutter is open (or “on,” depending on your camera model), exposing light on each frame.

Aperture – the opening in a lens through which light passes to enter the camera..

White Balance – the colour balance on a digital camera.

Frame Rate – the frequency at which images are captured.

Photography is more than just taking a photo. Photography is considered an art form because of how it can capture emotions. it can convey emotions not just through photos of people but through photos of animals, still life, nature, etc.

When taking a photograph you need to consider 3 things – angle lighting and object. using these three techniques defines the difference between a regular photo and photography. Using different angles when taking a photo will explore new perspectives and provide you with more views to tell the story. Lighting is a key factor in creating a successful image. Lighting determines not only brightness and darkness, but also tone, mood, and atmosphere. Simply put, the object is what the photograph is “of” while the subject is what the photograph is “about”.

Photography helps define how we see things especially on the news or online as it plays a big part in media – for example paparazzi’s jobs revolve around photography and getting the perfect shot. Photography plays a crucial role in how we immediately view something. Whether its an ad or promotion, a small blog post, or in today’s top headlines of well known media outlets. The urgency for quality imagery is one step closer in helping create a world with no labels.

Kevin Carter took this photo in 1993 of a starving Sudanese boy (who was initially thought to have been a girl hence the photo name), who collapsed on his way to a feeding centre whilst a vulture waited nearby. This photo sparked controversy because people wondered why he had taken the photo instead of helping the boy. However just out of the frame was the child’s parents and the feeding centre. Carter took them out of the frame in order to to draw more public compassion.

The angle the photo is taken at presents the vulture as superior and makes the viewer anticipate what will happen next. The fact there is no second frame adds to this, which is why it is such a well-recognized image. The contrast between the kneeling child and the towering vulture represents how different the life of these photographers are compared to the people they are taking photos of.

Carter was working in a time when photojournalists were told not to touch famine victims for fear of spreading disease. He estimated that there were twenty people per hour dying at the food centre. The child was not unique. However, he wanted to photograph the child in a way that would cause controversy to bring attention to the amount of young famine victims, not just in Sudan, but around the world.