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Portrait photography has had a long and varied history since Louis Daguerre introduced the photographic process in 1839. In that same year, Robert Cornelius produced what’s considered the first photographic self-portrait. Photography has served many purposes, mainly to commemorate occasions and periods in history. Early photographic portraits followed the conventions of the painted portrait. With traditional backdrops used in painting, early photographic portraits indicated a person’s societal status or occupation through clothing, setting or the surrounding objects.

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Louis Daguerre France

(1787 – 1851) UK

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Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre was a French artist and photographer, recognized for his invention of the eponymous daguerreotype process of photography. He became known as one of the fathers of photography. On January 7, 1839, members of the French Académie des Sciences were shown products of an invention that would forever change the nature of visual representation: photography. The astonishingly precise pictures they saw were the work of Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre (1787–1851), a romantic painter and printmaker most famous until then as the proprietor of the Diorama, a popular Parisian spectacle featuring theatrical painting and lighting effects. Each daguerreotype (as Daguerre dubbed his invention) was a one-of-a-kind image on a highly polished, silver-plated sheet of copper.

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Henry William Fox-Talbot 

(1800 – 1877) UK

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William Henry Fox Talbot was an English scientist, inventor and photography pioneer who invented the salted paper and calotype processes, precursors to photographic processes of the later 19th and 20th centuries. He was also an accomplished mathematician involved in the research of light and optics and as a result he invented the polarizing microscope. He was also politically active and a Member of Parliament In this early technique of photography, a sheet of paper coated with silver chloride was exposed to light in a camera obscura; those areas hit by light became dark in tone, yielding a negative image.

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Herb Ritts

(1952-2002) US

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Herb Ritts’ work concentrated on black and white photography and portraits, often in the style of classical Greek sculpture, which emphasized the human shape. Ritts prominently photographed celebrities in various locales throughout California. He also took many fashion and nude photographs of fashion models Naomi Campbell, Stephanie Seymour, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington, and Cindy Crawford, including “Tatjana, Veiled Head, Tight View, Joshua Tree, 1988. The first video he directed was Madonna in “Cherish” in 1989. In 1991, he won two MTV Video Awards for his work on music videos by Janet Jackson and Chris Isaak.

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HAMPTONNE

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HAMPTONNE OBJECTS

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HAMPTONNE PORTRAITS

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STILL LIFE OBJECTS

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ENVIROMENTAL PHOTOS

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Louis Daguerre:

Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre was a French artist and photographer, recognized for his invention of the eponymous daguerreotype process of photography. He became known as one of the fathers of photography.

Born: November 18, 1787

Died: July 10, 1851

Daguerreotype:

Louis invented the first practical process of photography, known as the daguerreotype. The daguerreotype is a direct-positive process, creating a highly detailed image on a sheet of copper plated with a thin coat of silver without the use of a negative. The process required great care. The silver-plated copper plate had first to be cleaned and polished until the surface looked like a mirror. Even though the portrait was the most popular subject, the daguerreotype was used to record many other images such as topographic and documentary subjects, antiquities, still lives, natural phenomena and remarkable events.

Henry William Fox-Talbot:

Fox Talbot was an English member of parliament, scientist, inventor and a pioneer of photography who invented the salted paper and calotype processes, precursors to photographic processes of the later 19th and 20th centuries.

Born: February 11, 1800

Died: September 17, 1877

Calotype:

Calotype or talbotype is an early photographic process introduced in 1841 by William Henry Fox Talbot, using paper coated with silver iodide. Paper texture effects in calotype photography limit the ability of this early process to record low contrast details and textures. The light had to filter through the paper negative and then provide all the energy to make the print image. An exposure time of fifteen minutes would be good – this could extend to half an hour or even several hours on an overcast day.

Julia Margaret Cameron:

Julia Margaret Cameron was a British photographer who is considered one of the most important portraitists of the 19th century.

She is known for her soft-focus close-ups of famous Victorian men and for illustrative images depicting characters from mythology, Christianity, and literature. Much of her work has connections to pictorialism and even movements such as The Pre-Rapahelites, and often had a dream-like, constructed quality to the images.

The history of photographic studios and photography dates back to the 1840s with the invention of processes for recording camera pictures, by Henry Fox Talbot and Louis Daguerre. The earliest photographic studios made use of natural daylight to create photographic portraits.

Early Pioneers of photography

Louis Daguerre 1787-1851

Louis Daguerre is credited with creating the first commercially successful photographic process known as the Daguerrueotype. It consisted of silver plates and chemicals such as iodine and bromine to create images. Numerous portrait studio’s opened their doors from 1840 onward. Daguerreotypes were very expensive, so only the wealthy could afford to have their portrait taken. Even though the portrait was the most popular subject, the daguerreotype was used to record many other images such as natural phenomenon’s and remarkable events.

Henry Fox Talbot 1800-1877

Henry Fox Talbot was an English chemist, linguist, archaeologist, and pioneer of photography. He is best known for his development of the calotype, an early photographic process that was an improvement over the daguerreotype of the French inventor Louis Daguerre. Talbot’s calotypes used a photographic negative, from which multiple prints could be made. He and Louis Daguerre are best known as the main inventors of the camera and early photography.

Robert Cornelius 1809-1893

Robert Cornelius was an American photographer and pioneer in the history of photography. He designed the photographic plate for the first photograph taken in the United States, an image of a School taken by in 1839.

Louis Daguerre (18 November 1787 – 10 July 1851)- created the daguerreotype ( first publicly available photographic process )

He is a French artist and photographer, closely working with Joseph Niepce. He developed the diorama theatre which is a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model.

Henry William Fox-Talbot (1800 – 1877) UK- Fox Talbot was an English member of parliament, scientist, inventor and a pioneer of photography,  develop the three primary elements of photography: developing, fixing, and printing. Although simply exposing photographic paper to the light produced an image, it required extremely long exposure times. He accidently discovered that there was an image after a very short exposure.

He called this the ‘calotype’ and patented the process in 1841.

I selected my 9 best images from my heritage project after careful consideration and selecting through all my images to ensure the best work was selected.

I selected this portrait as I think the posing and the angle really helps to display the models environment and it conveys emotion through her facial expression which gives an insight into how she was feeling that day. I adjusted the WB to improve clarity of the image and used the cropping tool to frame the image. I also played around with the pre-sets and selected the B&W split tone as I liked the tones it created and the blue tint it adds to the image.

I selected this image as I like the composition of the objects and how the blue bottle and the roses have such opposing contrast this pulls focus to the centre of the image as the shadows around the edges allow for a brighter central focal point.

The third image was taken at the Hamptonne country life museum it shows a classic 17th century building entrance through a cantered angle. The lady in the background pulls focus as she is dressed in white and I captured her running out of the gardens. Overall I like this image as the tones of the ladies surroundings have a true rustic feel and she is perfectly positioned in the horizon of the image.

This is one of my best images because it portrays emotion through the tones of black and white and how the depth of detail on the grand piano is highlighted I also think the angle almost acts as if you are watching someone play and the set up of the cord sheets gives the image the feel that someone had been playing recently. However this image also has a more earie feel to it as vintage pianos hold connotations of the supernatural.

I picked this image as one of my final pictures as I really like the detail captured in the glass centre piece i also like that the image has an almost vintage feel to it due to the composition of the objects.

final images after edit

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Studio Photography

Rembrandt

This technique is inspired by Rembrandt who was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. He used to paint shadows in his paintings in order to add more depth and make them more realistic. This technique created a triangle on the side of the face and makes the model look more attractive. It is used in studio portrait photography and cinematography. It can be achieved using one light and a reflector, or two lights, and is popular because it is capable of producing images which appear both natural and compelling with a minimum of equipment.

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Chiaroscuro/side light

Chiaroscuro (from Italian chiaro, “light,” and scuro, “dark”) is a film lighting style that emphasizes shadow and light. Chiaroscuro first emerged during the Renaissance as a painting technique used to create tension between the light and dark elements in portraits and other still life. To achieve this you just need to put your light on the side of the model and use a flash.

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Butterfly

Butterfly lighting is a portrait lighting pattern where the key light is placed above and directly centred with the model’s face. This creates a shadow under the nose that resembles a butterfly. It’s also known as ‘Paramount lighting,’ named for classic Hollywood glamour photography.

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Oliver Doran

Oliver Doran is a commercial, editorial and portrait photographer from Jersey, Channel Islands. He has over 15 years of experience and he photographs some of the most recognisable faces on the planet. He is known for his skilful use of light and mood to create striking visual breakthroughs that also strike the right chords and achieve diverse briefs and business goals.

His passion for travel, meeting new people and appreciating cultures different from his own lights the fire beneath everything he does. His roster of experiences includes working for the royal families in Bahrain and Dubai, an honour that he cherishes. Some find working with famous people intimidating, but for Oliver, the experience has made him empathetic to the innate human spirit.

Oliver creates vibrant, cinematic images using both flash, natural light and a mixture of both. He is comfortable in and out of the studio with complex lighting setups as well as working with ambient light in any location; day or night.

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ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAITS

I chose this image because I really like the yellow tones in the image and how the majority of the image is blurry with the exception of the reflection of the subject, I think this creates a really unusual contrast as -in the portrait- attention to drawn to the side where you cannot actually see the main subjects face which is unusual for portrait photography, it also really reminded me of Larry Clark‘s photographic style.

I chose this image because it really reminds me of Michelle Sank‘s photography, although the composition of the image is plain I really like how attention is drawn to the subject as they are the only interesting thing in the image- making the viewer “judge” the subject.

I have decided to print the two images above as a set as I really like the contrast between the skaters actually in the skatepark versus the almost commercial image of the torn skate shoes which implies the reality of skating: clothes getting torn, injuries and wrecked shoes.

HAMPTONNE EXTERIORS/INTERIORS

I chose this image because I really like the contrast of the shadow between the two buildings and how the two building almost look attached due to the perspective the photo was taken from. I also really like the wide variety of tones in the image and the texture of the Jersey granite (an important part of Jersey’s heritage) on the buildings as it creates interesting textures.

This is one of my favourite images so I tried to do the most minimal editing for this image because I really like how the walls and light almost frame the chair in the middle. I also really like how simple the composition is, with the empty chair in the middle- almost looking lonely.

In this image I really liked how the doorframe framed the bed and made it the centre subject. I also really like the shadows and light in the image so I tried to make the shadows more visible.

I decided to make the two images above a set as the similar compositions create a set of images that look almost abandoned and empty- possibly bringing in the theme of heritage as Hamptonne is no longer a used farm yet these rooms did once have people living in them.

HAMPTONNE PORTRAITS

I have decided to print this image because I really like the natural lighting on the model’s face and how the light hits the apple. I also believe the composition of the image is unusual, with the subject in the bottom right corner surrounded by empty space- displaying a sense of isolation.

PRODUCT TABLE

I included this image of a tool taken on a product table because it is obvious of -my inspiration- Walker Evans’ photographic style in ‘Beauties of the Common Tool’. I also really like how you can see every detail on the tool, especially the rusty colour.

Walker Evans-

Walker Evans (1903-1975), was an American photographer and photojournalist. His pictures are in black and white, due to the camera he used, and document life in the US during the great depression. He also did a series of still lifes, including Beauties of The Common Tool. The images are all of a simple tool on a plain background, focussing on how we can see beauty even in unexpected places.

Most of the interest from these come from the interesting shapes they are made up of and how light reacts to each subject, creating interesting and varying shadows.

Darren Harvey-Regan-

Darren Harvey-Regan (1974-), is a British photographer greatly inspired by Walker Evans’ work, using mostly black and white images and exploring shape and shadow. Harvey-Regan’s work is used to explore the space between 3D and 2D using a camera.

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Inspired Photomontages-

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