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.

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. Indeed, small apertures and great depth of field are commonly used in this type of photography.

During the 18th century, power in Jersey was concentrated in the hands of the Lemprière family. In 1750, Charles Lemprière was appointed Lieutenant Bailiff, while his brother Philippe was named Receiver-General.

One of Charles Lemprière’s major opponents within the Island was Nicholas Fiott. He was a captain and merchant who had disagreements with Lemprière going back many years. Things came to a head in the mid-1760s when Fiott struggled to find a lawyer to represent him in the Royal Court as they were all appointed by Lemprière.

Finally, Fiott took his frustrations to the Court. This was the opportunity for which Lemprière had been waiting. Fiott made his objections in writing and was prosecuted by Lemprière for insulting members of the Court. Fiott was fined and sentenced to ‘amende honorable’, which meant that he had to get down on his knees and pray for the forgiveness of God, the King and the Court. He refused to comply with the sentence and was sent to prison for a month. On his release, Fiott left the Island.

In 1767, people protested about the export of grain from the Island. Anonymous threats were made against shipowners and a law was passed the following year to keep corn in Jersey. In August 1769 the States of Jersey repealed this law, claiming that crops in the Island were plentiful. There was suspicion that this was a ploy to raise the price of wheat, which would be beneficial to the rich, many of whom had rents owed to them on properties that were payable in wheat. As major landowners, the Lemprière family stood to profit hugely.

On Thursday 28 September 1769, a Court called the Assize d’Héritage was sitting, hearing cases relating to property disputes. The Lieutenant Bailiff, Charles Lemprière, sat as the Head of the Court. Meanwhile, a group of disgruntled individuals from Trinity, St Martin, St John, St Lawrence and St Saviour marched towards Town where their numbers were swelled by residents of St Helier. The group was met at the door of the Royal Court and was urged to disperse and send its demands in a more respectful manner. However, the crowd forced its way into the Court Room armed with clubs and sticks. Inside, they ordered that their demands be written down in the Court book. Although the King later commanded that the lines be removed from the book, a transcription survives that shows the crowd’s demands.

Hamptonne Country Life Museum gives the visitor a unique insight into the rural life carried on in Jersey for centuries. Dating back to the 15th Century the house and farm are perfect for discovering the rural history of Jersey.  Explore the different houses which make up Hamptonne, find out more about Jersey’s history of cider making in the cider barn and wander through the cider apple orchard and meet the Hamptonne calves, lambs, chickens and piglets in the traditional farmstead.

The Hamptonne farm complex takes its name from Laurens Hamptonne, who purchased it in 1633. The property is also known as ‘La Patente’, as is the name of one of the roads that passes it, after the Grants by Letters Patent received by its owner Richard Langlois in 1445, and by King Charles II to Laurens Hamptonne in 1649.

Overall the site is square in shape. It includes ranges of buildings built in different periods, arranged around two courtyards. While the farm has medieval origins, consecutive owners have made marked improvements to the living accommodation. The main buildings are therefore named after the Langlois, Hamptonne and Syvret families, who lived here between 15th and 19th centuries.

Discover Syvret House, a decorated and furnished farmhouse gives a unique window into 1940s rural life, including; agricultural traditions, day-to-day family life, language, religion and the experience of the German Occupation.

From the first photo being taken 195 years ago, things have come a long way since then.

The first camera ever invented was called the Camera Obscura. It was developed by an Iraqi scientist in the early 11th century. It took 600 years for the Camera Obscura to become portable as it was so large.

The first permanent images were taken in the late 1830s, when Frenchman Joseph Nicéphore Niépce used a portable Camera Obscura to expose a pewter plate coated with bitumen to light. His success led to many more experiments being conducted and caused a rapid leap forward in styles of photography.

In the 1880s, when photography was still strictly for professionals and the very wealthy, a man called George Eastman started a company called Kodak. It would be this company that would be responsible for the invention of the Kodak Brownie, the first commercially available camera. Pictures would be taken by the consumer, then when all the film had been used it would be sent back to the factory where the film would be developed and printouts would be made. This is a very similar method to today’s disposable cameras.

World War II was revolutionary for photography. Photos were taken of soldiers in combat and the aftermath of the events. These were publicly displayed for everyone to see. It brought the reality of war to the public eye and shaped the face of photography to the present day.

About a decade after the war ended, instant images began to increase in popularity. This was because a new camera called the Model 95 from Polaroid had just been released. People could now take photos and have them developed inside the camera in under a minute. It was fairly expensive at launch but over time more models were released, dropping the prices so that almost all of the population could afford it. However, in 2008, Polaroid ceased production of all products and closed its doors, taking its secrets with it. The quality of a Polaroid is still difficult to replicate to this day.

Smart cameras began to appear with the first SLR cameras during the 1950s. Nikon began with the Model F and a Japanese company called Ashai (later known as Pentax) introduced the Ashaiflex. The SLR remained the camera of choice for 30 years. After this, compact cameras began to become more prominent. Nicknamed “point and shoot” cameras could now calculate shutter speed, aperture and focus, allowing the photographer to concentrate on composition.

New companies began to emerge, including Canon and previously mentioned, Pentax. DSLRs were now the preferred option for a professional. Cameras now began to shrink, small enough to now have three or more of them on the back of a smartphone, retaining the ability to take an incredibly high-quality photograph.

A cyanotype is a photographic printing process that produces a cyan-blue print. Engineers used the process well into the 20th century as a simple and low-cost process to produce copies of drawings, referred to as blueprints. The process uses two chemicals: ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide. The simplest kind of cyanotype print is a photogram, made by arranging objects on sensitised paper. Fresh or pressed plants are a typical subject 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 perfectly flat ones will create a more or less blurred image.

This powerful image shows a concerned mother with two of her children. She was travelling across the American countryside with her family, seeking work in the lettuce fields of Pajaro Valley, hence the name ‘Migrant Mother’. The photo was taken during the great depression, when a crash in Wall Street sparked the events to come. Millions of people were out of jobs and heatwaves were killing people every day. This gives us the idea that she is trying to keep her children safe, as well as the rest of her family that were travelling with them.

In my opinion, Arnold Newman is trying to portray Alfred Krupp as a sinister figure in an industrialised world. The lighting in the image is dark and ominous, with harsh lighting sculpturing his face. this harsh lighting creates an almost hell-like tone on Alfred’s face. There is a bright light behind Krupp which could symbolise a halo, this contrasts with the dark harsh lighting on his face. As well as this, the lighting shining on his face is from either side of his, creating these devil- like horns on his forehead. The idea behind this could be that to the Germans, Kropp was seen as an angel and someone who helped them through war, however to everyone else he is portrayed as a man of sin and someone easily compared to satin. the photographer uses a wide angle on the image for possible two reasons, one of them being that Kropp wanted to show off his industrial inventions and had requested this. On the other had the photographer may have used a wide angle lens to highlight the damage Kropp has done in his lifetime, and is trying to make his a less important factor in the image.

SUMMER TASK