Emotional Response:

This environmental portrait shows the relationship between mankind and [nature] natural setting. This image is ominous and suspicious due to the connotations of this eerie dark green tone in the image, and the hard stare that Krupp has. The way that Krupp presents himself in this image, it radiates power and danger towards the people looking at the image; the direct mode of address also make the audience feel slightly intimidated.

Visual -what can we see in the image:

In this image Krupp presents himself as a dominant, powerful, dangerous man; this can be supported by his position in the image. He is in the centre of the image while also being in the foreground this is suggesting that he is the focal point and what the receiver should be focusing on. His hand gestures emit this commanding feeling which is reinforced by his hand and body position as a triangle, pyramids are know for being strong which could suggest that his is trying to reinforce this idea. He is wearing a dark grey suit in an abandoned industrial site perhaps the site he used to work in. The pillars on either side of him create a frame in frame, further framing Krupp in the image and perhaps drawing more attention to the background. In the background you are able to notice the trains and this neglected space, furthermore on the roof of this building you are able to see light right above Krupp’s head giving a sense that it is leading you out which creates more depth to this image. The tone in this image is dark including very little lighting, yet matches the image perfectly while also having the right amount of light in the image to give more depth, the texture of the image is slightly grainy maybe to further show the connotations of a ditched site or maybe it was just the camera they had used.

Conceptual – why was the photo taken / presented;

Contextual – who, when, where etc…the story, background, impact:

Arnold Newman was a Jewish photographer. “As a Jew, it’s my own little moment of revenge.”, he wanted revenge for what Alfred Krupp was responsible for, during the WW2. The WW2, lead by Adolf Hitler, which killed around 6 million Jews. Krupp, the man in the picture, was responsible for transporting resources through a family company.

Technical – how was the photo taken:

Newman had a platform specifically erected in order to place Krupp against an industrial backdrop and he knew exactly what kind of image he had in mind. When composing the shot he asked Krupp to lean forward slightly, when he did he clasped his fingers together under his chin.

August Sander is a German photographer who produced an inclusive photographic document of German people which was inspired after he took photos of local farmers. He produced two of theses photographic documentaries: “Man in the Twentieth Century” and “Face of Our Time“. Sander would categorise his portraits by peoples profession or social class which later influenced the likes of Bernd and Hilla Bechar and Nicholas Nixon. Most of August Sander’s images were clear as to what the subjects occupation was however, some don’t clearly reveal what their occupation is and they leave the audience speculating what they do for a living.

Image analysis:

This is digital image taken on a 35mm Leica camera of a German farmer. The genre of this photograph is environmental portraiture. The mis-en-scene presents the subject sitting on a wall, at a slight angle, holding on to a walking stick between his legs. The photo has been taken from straight on so the subject is looking directly down the lens. The colour of the image is monotone, this brings out many different textures in the image such as the subjects hands, beard (rough), the walking stick (smooth). All of the different textures in the image give the image depth. The use of light is natural which can be seen by the contrast in tones throughout the image. You can see the lighter tones on the subjects face, hands and the walking stick. The darker tones can be seen on the subjects blazer and in the background. The background of the image is out of focus whereas the subject is in focus which suggests that a that image has been taken with a shallow depth of field using an f-stop of around f/2.8. By having the background out of focus it makes the subject stand out to the viewer. August Sander has used the rule of thirds as the subject is centrally framed in the image. It can be argued that the Sander has used leading lines by having the subject hold his stick between his legs, leading the audience up to the focal point of the image.

An environmental portrait is portrait of an individual or individuals that captures them in their natural surroundings/ work environment rather than a studio or artificial set up. An environmental portrait can reveal a lot about a person and can equally conceal. I think an environmental portrait can send a message to the audience about the subjects story as they come across quite cinematic and raw.

Analysis

This is a digital photograph by Arnold Newman in 1963. The mise en scene presents Alfred Krupp in Essen, Germany. He is a German Jew surrounded by an industrial setting; pillars, trains, vehicle parts, tracks, metal.

The lighting appears to be natural in the background, coming through windows and holes in the structure. However, in the foreground, the lighting on the man appears artificial. This is interesting as the man himself is the only natural thing in the image apart from the sunlight. This can convey ideas of factories overloading the world with unnecessary products, controlled by humans.

The aperture is around f/4 as the foreground is crisp and in focus however the background is blurred. The shutter speed is fast. The ISO seems to be very high and the textures of the foreground are very crisp.

In the background, the colours are simple and subdued, however, in the foreground, the colours of the man are harsh and contrasting. This presents the man as important, however the shadows around him and on his face also present him as sinister.

The image follows the rule of thirds very well as shown:

The rule is accentuated by his hand placement and the pillars. The pillars create a frame within a frame effect which is very clever.

Personally, I don’t like this image, it seems sinister and evil. However, it is very well framed and interesting photo of the subject. I would like to recreate some photos like this, using a frame within a frame effect.

plan

I am going to take photos at the market of the workers such as fruit shop, cake shop ,the chocolate shop, the flower shops

I will go take photographs in my frees today

Visual:

At a first glance, we can see Krupp at the very front looking at us, he is clearly the main subject of the photo being the very first thing we notice. Behind him, seems to be some sort of industrial building and looking closer their are also trains in the background. The blue sparks on the left train, because of the bright lighting, catches your eye and it looks like it’s coming from someone welding the train which implies that this place is supposed to hold, manufacture or repair trains. Some other items are spotted too, like the collection of wheels right behind Krupp and all sorts of bars and tools laying around behind him as well. Notice also how the lighting is only shining on either side of the man’s face from two adjacent lightbulbs above him creating artificial lighting except for the rest of the factory where natural light is shining through, the lightbulbs create contrast on his face as the middle appears darker. Two scratched-up and written on columns are also on both his left and right which can create a way of measuring rule of thirds as it helps separate different sections of the photo and the columns also create a sort of frame inside a frame effect, limiting the view of the rest of the factory. Lines of perspective can also be seen going all the way through the factory to the end wall to show depth of field and how long the building is. The man’s clothes aren’t what you’d expect a factory worker to wear, he is wearing a suit which means he must be the manager of this factory.

Contextual:

This Photograph is of Alfred Krupp and was taken by Arnold Newman in Germany, 1963. Alfred Krupp is a German Industrialist and a Nazi Sympathiser and Arnold Newman is a Jewish Photographer. These two kinds of people have very brutal history together, particularly during World War Two. In the factory you can see trains and railways, which were used mostly to transport captured Jews to the concentration camps during World War Two. Krupp would enslave Jews during WW2 by giving them hard labour until they couldn’t work any longer, rendered useless, he would send them to the concentration camps to be killed. Given this information it gives the photo a sense of unease and gives an idea on what this photo is actually about. Krupp is now seen more as a bad guy, which can be both applied to his actions and serious appearance in the photo.

Technical:

Arnold Newman at first didn’t want to take the photo of Alfred Krupp obviously due to their history together. Arnold said he ‘saw him as the devil’ and that he wanted to ‘put a knife in his back’. When Newman agreed to do the shoot and had Krupp positioned in the factory, he asked him to lean forward so he put his hands together under his chin and leaned in, giving a more serious stare which made him look scarier. Arnold later said that his “hair stood on end” because of this. Arnold also said when he clasped his hands together that “As a Jew, it’s my own little moment of revenge.”, ‘It was my impression of a Nazi who managed to survive despite killing millions of people’.

Conceptual:

The meaning of this image is clearer now, given the info from Newman himself we now understand that he wanted to show how this person got away with doing what he did and the aftermath of World War Two still remains.

What are environmental portraits?

An environmental portrait is a portrait executed in the subject’s usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and it illuminates the subject’s life and surroundings.

August Sander

A famous photographer that does a lot of environmental portraits is August Sander, he made a project called “The Face of our People” then producing a volume of portraits titled “The Face of Our Time” in 1929. 

August sander took lots of inspiration from Bernd and Hilla Becher, using their idea of Typologies in his portraiture work. Each image was taken in a similar was, with the subject standing “stoically”. He documented German society in between the two World Wars, he wanted to make a record of social types, classes and the relationships between them and discovered that the collection was more powerful than just the images by themselves. This collection was so powerful that the Nazis actually destroyed the images and banned the book.