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.