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 in a genre of photography.

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Mary Ellen Mark

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Mary Ellen Mark was an American photographer from Pennsylvania that was known for her photojournalism, documentary photography, portraiture, and advertising photography. She photographed people who were “away from mainstream society and toward its more interesting, often troubled fringes”.

One of her pieces of work that attracted me the most was the ‘Ward 81′ project where she went to the Oregon State Hospital (mental institution) in 1975 and took pictures of the patients’ lives. She spent 36 days photographing and interviewing women who were considered a danger to others and themselves.

I think all of the pictures in this project are black and white because Mark wanted to show how depressing and dull the women’s lives actually are. This could show that they have lost hope and that their future is uncertain. Mark kept all of her pictures unposed during the photoshoot to keep it simple and realistic and to show that these women are real people and not just animals being kept away from society. This could make the viewer feel sympathy towards them because you can see the hardships and pain these women go through and how hopeless some are.

Bert Teunissen

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Bert Teunissen is a Dutch photographer who is known for documenting European homes built before World War II and their inhabitants in his book ‘Domestic Landscapes: A Portrait of Europeans at Home’.

In his photographs, he tries to have more than one person and usually makes them sit down and look straight at the camera. I really like this because the background is visible and you can see all the different houses clearly. Teunissen uses natural lighting and has them at eye level in order to make them seem more natural and realistic. These pictures seem welcoming and cosy as there are mainly older people in the frame and usually there’s more of them sitting at a table making it look like a happy family. I quite like these rooms because of their old fashioned and small designs. It feels familiar to me as I am European and used to live in houses similar to these.

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Photoshoot Plan

First shoot (Outside): I will probably ask a friend if I can take pictures of them using their skateboard or walking to school or through town. I will have plenty of natural lighting which means I won’t have to worry about shadows and be able to use different angles. I’ll try to not make them pose because I want the photographs to turn out natural and not forced.

Second shoot (Inside): For this photoshoot, I will ask a friend if I can take pictures of them in their room or house in order to achieve pictures inspired by Bert Teunissen. I will mostly take full-body pictures and have my model do everyday activities like reading or playing video games to make the photographs seem more casual and natural. I will use natural lighting from the window (if possible) and use high angles to get most of the environment in. This is because I want to be able to show how my model is like a person.

Third shoot (2 or more people): I’ll go to a youth club and try to take pictures of the workers doing their jobs and helping people out. I will have to ask for consent from them and the young people that go there because I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable. I’ll try to take most of the pictures from the waist up and experiment with different angles in order to focus on the activity they’re doing.

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.

Jimmy Nelson

James “Jimmy” Philip Nelson is an English photographer. He is known for his portraits of tribal and indigenous peoples. He was born in 1967 and is now 54 years old.

Jimmy has wrote multiple books with his most famous being called Homage to Humanity. The book includes interviews with the people portrayed, behind the scenes of photography and stories about his life and his travels.

I like the style of Jimmy’s photos because it presents how life is lived for these tribal people. The background of the portraits have a big effect on the people as it makes them stand out and it shows the environment they live in.

“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” – google

Photoshoot plan – 22/10/2021

photoshoot 1 – outside

My first photoshoot is going to be at my stepdads building site. I am going to photography my stepdad Peter who is a digger driver as he works on the construction of the new Augres house. My model will be in the cab of a digger, he will continue to work while I photography him however he will stop the machine in order for me to take the pictures. This will reduce motion blur in the camera. to eliminate blur completely I will use a tripod which will keep the camera completely still. The light will be natural and I will not be introducing any additional lighting as it will get in the way of my models work process which will ruin the natural pictures. If possible the weather will be overcast in order to provide soft lighting. this is because due to the environment my photoshoot is going to take place I think that hard lighting will reflect off the bright paint on the machine which will draw attention away from my model. I intend to take images of my model inside the cab of his machine as well as other machines on his site, as well as images of him outside of the machines.

Photoshoot 2 – inside

For my indoor photoshoot I am going to photograph my grandfather in his lounge. He spends a lot of time in his lounge watching TV and reading the news paper. I will take photographs of him doing both these thing while sat in his chair. For the TV I will photograph him in different positions and moods depending on what he is watching. This photoshoot would be taken during the day as there will be natural light passing through the window.

Photoshoot 3 – multiple models.

For my multiple model photoshoot I am going to have two or three of my friends on a walk on the beach. I would like the weather to be windy but not raining. My models will be wearing thick coats and general winter gear. The wardrobe alongside the wind will make the images very dramatic.

-3 environmental portrait

-3 people

1. location outside
2. location inside
3. 2 or more people

Mood Board

Plan

shoot 1 Inside – Rubys room

Bedroom, posters, music albums, Messy/Made bed, lighting in bedroom

shoot 2 Outside – Dads Garden

Housing Environment, hobby’s, lighting, Time of day.

Shoot 3 two people – 2 friends

The cyanotype process was introduced by an astronomer John Herschel in 1842 who tried to find a way to copy his notes. Herschel figured out that by coating paper with a UV light sensitive emulsion and placing objects on the paper created a white silhouette on a blue background. A year later (1843) a friend of his, Anna Atkins, used the cyanotype process to publish the first ever photographically illustrated book; “British Algae; Cyanotype impressions”.

What’s the science behind it?

The cyanotype procedure is quite scientific in nature. It requires a UV light sensitive substance which is created by mixing a solution of potassium ferricyanide and a solution of ferric ammonium citrate. This solution is then applied to a surface such as paper by soaking and drying it all in a dark room. An image is produced by placing an object on the paper and exposing it to a source of ultraviolet light.

The UV light and the citrate reduce the Iron(III) to Iron(II) following the reaction of the Iron(II) with ferricyanide this produces ferric ferrocyanide which has a blue pigment. After the paper has been exposed, it gets developed by washing in water so that all the Iron(III) salts get washed away. Next, the paper is dried. The areas where the objects were places are not exposed to the UV light and so remain white whilst the rest turns blue.

Use of cyanotypes in art

Initially, cyanotypes were used for creating blueprints of architectural or scientific diagrams. After Anna Atkins published her book people stared seeing the artistic aesthetic of cyanotypes. Since then they were widely used for creative purposes.

One way of producing cyanotype art is by using negatives. This is done by desaturating and inverting a digital image to create the negative. This image is printed onto acetate then placed on a surface coated with the UV light sensitive substance and exposed to UV light resulting in an alternative image.

Cyanotype art can be combined with traditional media like painting or printmaking to create something unique.

Karen Landey

One of the cyanotype artists that intrigued me is Karen Landey. Landey has been a photographer for over sixty years, she enjoys finding alternative meaning of clichés and presenting them in unique ways. She find particular interest in dreams, their magical, mysterious nature and unlimited possibilities they offers us. She often refers to Photoshop as a tool to explore the world of dreams and transform them into reality. To Landey the ability to create digital negatives of collages and print as cyanotypes is downright magic.

“I am intrigued by the interface between quantum physics and mystical realms.  This radiant edge inspires me to find ways to bring this light through my artwork and into the world.” – Karen Landey

Photography is the art of capturing light with a camera, usually via a digital sensor or film, to create an image. With the right camera equipment, you can even photograph wavelengths of light invisible to the human eye, including UV, infrared, and radio.

The first permanent photograph was captured in 1826 (some sources say 1827) by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in France. It shows the roof of a building lit by the sun.

A Brief History of Photography and the People Who Made It Succeed

Colour photography started to become popular and accessible with the release of Eastman Kodak’s “Kodachrome” film in the 1930s. Before that, almost all photos were monochromatic – although a handful of photographers, toeing the line between chemists and alchemists, had been using specialized techniques to capture colour images for decades before. You’ll find some fascinating galleries  of photos from the 1800s or early 1900s captured in full colour, worth exploring if you have not seen them already.

These scientist-magicians, the first color photographers, are hardly alone in pushing the boundaries of one of the world’s newest art forms. The history of photography has always been a history of people – artists and inventors who steered the field into the modern era.

Landscape Photography

Landscape photography is the art of capturing pictures of nature and the outdoors in a way that brings your viewer into the scene. From grand landscapes to intimate details, the best photos demonstrate the photographer’s own connection to nature and capture the essence of the world around them. Below, you’ll find all the landscape photography articles we have written over the past decade, including our highly approachable tutorials and techniques. If you want to learn everything there is to know about taking beautiful landscape pictures, this is the place to start.

Portrait Photography

Portrait photography is one of the most popular genres of photography, with good reason. Good portrait photographers are able to capture the personality and emotion of people around them, along with earning money via wedding photography, senior portraits, family photography sessions, and so on. Below, you’ll find everything we’ve written about portrait photography, intended for both beginners and professionals. Also, if you want some ideas beyond our basic portrait photography tips, take a look at our more specialized tutorials on weddings and flash photography. Those articles will help you with posing, camera settings, and lighting portraits. It isn’t always easy to take pictures of people, but it’s worth the effort to learn.

abstract art

Abstract art and abstract photography art are relatively new but well-established styles of modern and contemporary art. Abstraction in photography is a stark departure from documentary-style photography or hyper-realism. Read on to learn more about abstract photography, including its inspiration, origins, and purpose.

For my first indoor photoshoot of environmental portraits, I photographed my dad in his garage. He has worked there for around 27 years and the setting was very natural for him. The lighting in the garage is quite low in most areas so this became a problem I had to consider.

For my second photoshoot, I went to a gym/WCB centre in town called ‘The Rock’. Here, I am planning to photograph Tommy, a personal trainer with his boss and owner of the gym. Whilst I was there, Tommy was training with a customer who was happy to let me take photos of them training. The reasoning for this was because I went to the gym myself for a fair few months and knew that Tommy and Craig (the owner) wouldn’t mind if I asked to take photos of them.

For my third and final photoshoot, I photographed Susie, a hairdresser in the ‘Style’ salon, also in town. I had just had my hair cut and asked if she was happy to be photographed for my coursework. She had a customer booked in after myself so I only had 2 minutes to get what I could.

An environmental portrait is a portrait taken in the main subject’s usual environment, which could be places like their home or place of work, and they typically illuminate/highlight the subject’s life and/or surroundings. The term is most often used as a genre of photography.

When taking photos of a person in their natural surroundings, generally you will be able to more clearly portray their character/personality, therefore portraying their personality, rather than just a likeness of their physical appearance. It is also thought that when photographing a subject 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 background in these photos is a key feature as it portrays part of their characteristics and personality which are often things pointed out by the environment that someone works/lives/rests in.

Photographer James Philip Nelson was born in 1967 in Sevenoaks, Kent. He spent his childhood in Africa, Asia and South America, traveling around with his father, who worked as a geologist for International Shell. At the age of 7, he was sent to Stoneyhurst College boarding school in Lancashire UK.

In 2010, Nelson started to work on his second book, Before they Pass. Away He travelled for 3 years and photographed more than 35 indigenous tribes around the world in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and the South Pacific, using a 50-year-old 4x5in camera. Nelson said the project was “inspired by Edward S. Curtis and his great photographs of Native Americans”. Like Curtis, Nelson documents his subjects in a romantic, stylised and posed manner, with the aim of “putting them on a pedestal”. Nelson remarks that the project is not meant to convey “a documentary truth, but rather [his] own artistic interpretation and a celebration of diversity and beauty.” The tribes that Nelson photographed include the Huli and Kalam tribes of New Guinea, the Tsaatan of Mongolia and the Mursi people of the Omo River valley in southern Ethiopia. In a TED talk he described the working process used in this project and stated it occasionally took “months trying to find [these indigenous peoples] and then again weeks to gain their trust and permission to photograph them.” Nelson borrowed the funds for the project from a Dutch billionaire, Marcel Boekhoorn. As a result of the project, a book containing the photographs and texts, a limited edition of the book, as well as printed photo portraits were published.

More of his work:

During my visit to Hamptonne, I took pictures of objects within and around the farm. These objects were a mix of things such as crockery, food, clothing, personal objects and books.

My Best Images

Contact Sheets

At Hamptonne we got the chance to explore around the different farm houses that people would have lived in. They had been set up with the different items that people in that time would have used. For example their were shoes and hats at the front door and the table had food on it ready for the people to eat.

Editing

For my edits I have turned some of my photos black and white and I have kept some in colour but have increased the saturation or exposure to make them brighter and to give it a more vintage look. I have also made the black in some of my images more bold so that contrasts to some of the dull backgrounds.

Final Objects

I have picked these as my final photos because they each capture different aspects of the houses, how people use to live and what they used or wore. I like how the first image has vibrant reds next to two darker objects because it allows the hat to be the focus of the image but it still doesn’t take all of the attention away from the lantern or the knitted bag. I also like the fourth photo because the bold blacks sit nicely on top of the lighter grey tones from the book.