Essay:

Introduction

Photography has been an extremely important aspect of our everyday life for many decades, being used as a tool for science, exploration of our world and self- expression. It has revolutionised the communication between people, creating an insight to different cultures and others’ opinions, thoughts and ideas. Since the beginning, techniques and ways of capturing photographs have been developed- some of which are still used today. The word ‘photography’ has a literal meaning of ‘drawing with light’, which was supposedly though of by a British scientist named Sir John Herschel (in 1839). The word is derived from Greek words ‘phos’ meaning ‘light’ and ‘graphê’ which means ‘drawing’ or ‘writing’.   

Camera Obscura & Pinhole Photography

It has been estimated that camera obscuras date back to 400BC, when the first written account was recorded in that year, provided by a Chinese philosopher named Mo- tzu. There are many theories, however, that imply that it was discovered before this, yet was simply not recorded. But what actually is a camera obscura? A camera obscura is commonly described as a dark room (created with the use of dark cloth or any other flexible material covering any natural light sources) with a small opening allowing light to flood in, developing a upside down projection of the scenery outside opposite the hole after a few minutes. Moreover, the name ‘camera obscura’ is the Latin term for ‘dark chamber’, a perfect name for what it refers to.  

Many to this day try to recreate the amazing experience of the camera obscura, one of which is Abelardo Morell, a Cuban photographer (born in 1948) who is known for renting out apartments/ rooms and transforming them into camera obscuras. He then photographs the breath-taking results which has resulted in him being a world- known photographer. The camera obscura or pinhole image is seen as a natural optical phenomenon. 

Ibn al-Haytham (an Arab physicist) is seen as the inventor of the pinhole camera, even uncovering the explanation for why the photo or projection appears upside down (it is because light travels in a straight line and therefore the light from the top of the object after passing through the pinhole reaches the bottom of the camera screen and light from the bottom of the object passing through the pinhole reaches the top of the screen). Moreover, he is referred to as “the father of modern optics”, since he made significant contributions to the principles of optics and visual perception.  Furthermore, the pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens (but with a tiny aperture, the pinhole, instead) and was created to make it simpler to recreate the camera obscura effect on a smaller scale. 

Despite using the most basic concepts of the camera, pinhole photography is still a popular technique attempted by photographers. The photos are captured on film, and it is important to note that the distance between the pinhole and film determines the angle of view.  It is a great way of being introduced to analogue photography as it reduces it to its most basic elements.  As there is no viewfinder, you are unable to know what you have captured until you develop the film, this aspect creating it a to an enjoyable and exciting experience.  

Nicephore Nièpce & Heliography

Nicephore Nièpce (1765- 1833) was a French inventor. He is usually described as the inventor of photography, due to his development of heliography, developing his first heliograph in 1822. He used this technique to create what is known as the first permanent photograph ever, using a primitive camera to capture the image in 1826 or 1827. When describing his invention, Nièpce said: ‘The discovery I have made and which I call Heliography, consists in reproducing spontaneously, by the action of light, with gradations of tints from black to white, the images received in the camera obscura’.

It is the process of engraving a photo onto a material and is another word derived from Greek words ‘helios’ meaning ‘sun’ and ‘graphein’ translating to ‘writing’. There is a very specific process for heliography, which Niepce developed after many experiments with different reactants.  

The process of Heliography: 

1. The naturally occurring asphalt bitumen, is applied as a coating on glass or metal 

2. This chemical then hardens in relation to the light exposure available 

3. The plate is then washed with oil of lavender 

4. After washing with oil, the only area remaining would be the hardened area where the image formed. 

Louis Daguerre & Daguerreotype

Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre (1787-1851) was a French artist and photographer, who became known as one of the founding fathers of photography after developing the daguerreotype process. In 1829, Daguerre partnered with Nièpce. After his partners sudden death (1833), Daguerre continued to experiment, and eventually evolved the process which would eventually be known as the daguerreotype. There is a famous quote by Daguerre that gives us an insight on how he viewed his discovery, it being: ‘I have seized the light, I have arrested its flight‘. This proves how aware he was of the science behind his invention, knowing it was all down to light.

He went public with his invention in 1839 and at a joint meeting of two academies the invention was announced and described in general terms, but all specific details were withheld. Soon after, news of the development of the daguerreotype quickly spread, leading to it to be called in Daguerre’s name. 

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 proved to be very specific and had to be carefully done. Firstly, the silver-plated copper plate had to be cleaned and polished until the surface looked like a mirror. Next, the plate was sensitized in a closed box over iodine until it took on a yellow-rose appearance. The plate, held in a lightproof holder, was then transferred to the camera. After exposure to light, the plate was developed over hot mercury until an image appeared. To fix the image, the plate was immersed in a solution of sodium thiosulfate or salt and then toned with gold chloride. 

It is believed to be the earliest known photograph of a person. The image shows a busy street, but because the exposure had to continue for four to five minutes the moving traffic is not visible. At the lower right, however, a man appears to be having his boots polished, and both him and the man polishing his boots were motionless enough for them to be captured. 

Henry Fox Talbot & Calotype

William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877) was an English scientist, inventor, and photography pioneer who invented the calotype process. Shortly after Daguerre’s invention of the daguerreotype was announced 1839, without details, Talbot asserted priority of an invention based on experiments he had begun in early 1834. He introduced the calotype in 1841, using paper coated with silver chloride. A famous quote by him shows how he knew more could be done to develop photography, and how calotypes were simply another step in this process, the quote being: ‘I do not claim to have perfected an art but to have commenced one, the limits of which it is not possible at present exactly to ascertain’.

The paper dipped in the chemical was exposed to light in a camera obscura and the areas hit by the light became dark in tone, creating a negative image. The developing process permitted much shorter exposure times in the camera than the previous techniques, down from one hour to one minute. The developed image on the paper was fixed with sodium hyposulfite. The “negative,” as Talbot called it, could produce any number of positive images by simple contact printing upon another piece of sensitized paper. 

Robert Cornelius & Self-Portraiture

Robert Cornelius (1809-1893) was an America photographer. He is known for taking the first self- portrait (a daguerreotype) and for developing the photographic plate that he used to take the first photograph in America. With the help of the chemist Paul Goddard, he attempted to perfect the daguerreotype technique and when he was 30 years old, he took the famous photograph of himself. In 2014, it was considered as being the first photographic self- portrait ever produced, even being described as the first ‘selfie’. 

This daguerreotype produced an off- centre image of the photographer, depicting him with crossed arms, dishevelled hair and a neutral expression. Cornelius took this image in front of his family’s gas lighting business. To this day, this portrait is seen as one of the most important photographs ever taken. Cornelius created a makeshift camera with the use of an opera glass made into the lens, allowing him to create this daguerreotype. Taking this simple picture was a much more complex task than it would be in the present day, as the lighting had to be perfect and he had to stay motionless and look into the lens for around 15 minutes, due to the incredibly slow shutter speed of the camera. The photographer went on to create many more daguerreotypes, mostly capturing his hometown. 

Julia Margeret Cameron & Pictorialism

Julia Margaret Cameron (1815- 1879) was a British photographer who is considered one of the most important portraitists of the 19th century. She is known for her close- up portrait photographs of both men and women, portraying them as characters from mythology, Christianity and literature. Her portraits illustrated the people as sensitive and full of innocence, quite a different approach than most portrait photographers took during that time (as most attempted to present their models as intelligent in a very formal manner). Being an upper-class woman, she mostly photographed fellow upper-class citizens, creating around 900 photographs in her short 12-year-old career.

One of her most famous photographs, showing a delicate young women surrounded in plants. Despite taking up photography quite late in her life (at the age of 48), she still managed to create some beautiful and unique photos, causing people to believe she was a naturally- talented photographer. Her first camera was a gift from her daughter and son in law, and in response to the gift, Cameron said “From the first moment I handled my lens with a tender ardour, and it has become to me as a living thing.” Even now, many photographers see her as an inspiration for their work, and even critics cannot deny the sheer lusciousness and uniqueness of her photographs.

Henry Mullins & Carte-de-Visite

Henry Mullins started working in London in the 1840s and moved to Jersey in July 1848, setting up a studio known as the Royal Saloon, at 7 Royal Square. Many Jersey folk paid half a guinea to get their photograph taken by the photographer, and Mullins described them as more open minded than the people in London. He was the first professional daguerreotype photographer to come to Jersey and create a portraiture business.  

He specialised in creating ‘cartes de visite’, which are small photographs which were patented in Paris by photographer André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854. They didn’t gain worldwide use until 1859 but when they did, the invention was so popular that its usage became known as “cardomania” and spread quickly throughout Europe and then to America and the rest of the world. During his career, it has been estimated that Mullins made 9600 of these photos of different people around the island, some even being very influential people. 

Clarence Philip Ouless

Clarence Philip Ouless became one of the most popular commercial photographers in Jersey in the late 1800s, working from premises in New Street, a very popular location in St Helier for Victorian photographers. In 1883 he bought the negative collection of the late Henry Mullins, and many of these passed, along with his own photographs, to La Société Jersiaise‘s Photographic Archive in 2006. 

He created daguerreotype photos of different people, mostly upper- class, presenting them in a formal way. This photograph shows a man in formal attire, looking away from the camera lens, creating a sense of mystery yet full of intelligence. 

word count: 1,824

Bibliography:

Camera Obscura & World of Illusions (2020), What is a Camera Obscura. Camera Obscura: https://www.camera-obscura.co.uk/article/what-is-a-camera-obscura

Wikipedia (last edited on- 2023), Pinhole Camera. en.wikipedia.org: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinhole_camera 

Parallax Photographic Coop (2018), Guide to Pinhole Photography. parallaxphotographic.coop: https://parallaxphotographic.coop/beginners-guide-to-pinhole-photography/  

Bedi.K (2019), Heliography. Photoion: https://www.photoion.co.uk/blog/encyclopaedia/heliography/#:~:text=Heliography%20is%20a%20photographic%20process,taken%20from%20a%20nature%20scene 

Wikipedia (last edited in 2022), Heliography. en.wikipedia.org: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliography 

Library of Congress (2020), The Daguerreotype Medium. loc.gov: https://www.loc.gov/collections/daguerreotypes/articles-and-essays/the-daguerreotype-medium/#:~:text=revived%20the%20process.-,The%20Process,surface%20looked%20like%20a%20mirror

Augustyn. A (2017), Calotype. brittanica.com: https://www.britannica.com/technology/calotype 

Wikipedia (last edited on- 2021), Robert Cornelius. en.wikipedia.org: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cornelius 

Maloney.W (2022), Robert Cornelius and the First Selfie. loc.gov: Robert Cornelius and the First Selfie | Timeless (loc.gov)

Rosenburg. K (2014), Ardent Victorian at the Lens. nytimes.com: ‘Julia Margaret Cameron,’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Jerripedia (last edited in 2022), Henry Mullins. theislandwiki.org: Henry Mullins – Jerripedia (theislandwiki.org)

Wikipedia (last edited on- 2019), Carte de Visite. en.wikipedia.org: Carte de visite – Wikipedia

Jerripedia (last edited in 2022), Clarence Philip Ouless. theislandwiki.org: https://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/Clarence_Philip_Ouless

Camera Obscura or “Pinhole Photography”

In 1685, the camera obscura was properly discovered by people, however, the earliest known account of a camera obscura was given by a Chinese philosopher in 400BC. This was the first invention that allowed people to see the light through a hole in the wall. This made it possible to see the light from objects and this was the first idea of “photography”. The invention of the camera obscura is still used today and can be known as “pinhole photography” now.

First “photograph”

In 1802, Thomas Wedgwood did experiments using silver nitrates to create a photographic image. He discovered that silver nitrate could be used to make light by heating. He  managed to produce inside a camera obscura a black and white negative image on paper or white leather treated with silver nitrate. However, he only saw the image for a second, and then the image continued to go black until it disappeared. What he did wrong was that he didn’t know how to prevent the image from disappearing unlike photographers like Henry Fox-Talbot and Louis Daguerre.

Heliography & Joseph Nicephore Niepce

Joseph Nicephore Niepce was the first to make a permanent photographic image. Niepce fled the French Revolution but returned to serve in the French army. Dismissed because of ill health, he remained engaged in research for the rest of his life.

Heliography is a technique that he created, using a printing plate and engraving the image into it, this was done 1825. He worked closely with Louis Daguerre, helping him make the Daguerreotype.

How is heliography done? Traces of solar energy are burnt into the film material using self-constructed devices and lenses. Afterwards, the shots are enlarged and printed on paper or the film sheets are directly shown in light-boxes.

Louis Daguerre and Daguerreotypes

Louis Dagueterre, a French painter and physicist, invented the first practical process of photography, known as the Daguerrotype. He worked closely with Joseph Nicephore Niepce .Though the first permanent photograph from nature was made in 1826/27 it required about eight hours’ exposure time, however Duerrotypes only required 20 to 30 minutes exposure time.

Daguerreotype was the first publicly available photographic process and it was widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. The name refers to an image created through this process, a daguerreotype is not flexible and is rather heavy. The daguerreotype is detailed and sharp, and is very fragile.

The one downside to the Daguerreotype is that only one copy of the image could be created with the technique which is why they were quite expensive to do. Louis Daguerre was believed to just be in it for the money, nothing else.

He was the first photographer to release an image depicting people, here it is:

Henry Fox Talbot & Calotype

Henry Fox Talbot was an inventor that couldn’t draw but wanted to express how he was feeling through images so he invented mousetraps (the camera).

He accidentally produced a negative instead of a positive but then realised that he could make as many positives as he wanted using the negative, then leading to his technique, “Calotypes”.

It was created by using a sheet of paper coated with silver chloride and exposing it to light in a camera obscura; those areas hit by light became dark in tone, yielding a negative image. The biggest aspect of the process lay in Talbot’s discovery of a chemical (gallic acid) that could be used to “develop” the image on the paper.

Robert Cornelius & Self-Portraiture

Robert Cornelius was an American photographer and pioneer in the history of photography. His self-portrait taken in 1839 is the first known photographic portrait of a person taken in the United States.

Cornelius attempted to perfect the daguerreotype, Cornelius took a self-portrait outside the family store. The technique he used required him to sit motionless for 10 to 15 minutes, taking the image by removing the lens cap and then going into frame where he sat for a minute before covering up the lens again.

Julia Margeret Cameron & Pictorialism

Julia Margaret Cameron is known for her soft-focus close-ups of famous Victorian men and for illustrative images depicting characters from mythology, Christianity, and literature, she was an ambitious and devoted photographer. Cameron is best known today for her moving and sensitive portraits of eminent Victorians. A paramount example is her 1867 photograph of Sir John F. W. Herschel, in which he looks directly at the camera, emerging from the shadows of the images.

Cameron and her pictorialist contemporaries pursued painterly compositions, subjects, and qualities, hoping to elevate photography to a high quality of art. A representation of a person or thing in a work of art.

Henry Mullins & Carte-de-Visit

Henry Mullins moved to Jersey from London in 1848 setting up a studio called the “Royal Saloon”. At the beginning he worked with another man but by 1849 he was working alone in the same studio he would end up working in for the next 26 years.

His speciality was “Carte de Visite”. Most of the time, he would take 16 images at a time and between 1850-1873 he made around 900 cartes de visites. Because, at the time pictures were expensive, it was mostly influential people that had their photos taken.

Camera Obscura & Pinhole photography:

Camera obscura also known as pinhole photography is created by using a dark room which has a hole in one of the sides of the wall, after around half an hour to an hour what ever is on the outside of the box will project through the hole and an image of it will be created and inverted on the opposite wall.

The first written account of the technique was invented by Mo-tuz who was a Chinese philosopher. He noticed that the light travelled through to create a replicate of the original image. However there were many scientists involved in the Camera obscura, Alhazen is said to be the main inventor and he did experiments with candles, figuring out that the light that entered the hole traveled in straight lines and inverted. Many artists used the technique to trace the outlines of buildings or trees for example which made it very important back then as it allowed them to perfect their pieces.

Nicephore Niepce & Heliography:

Niepce is known as one of the most important figures in the history and invention of photography, the image below is the oldest image that still exists which was taken on a camera which he took. It is a little hard to tell what the image is, but it is a view of building rooftops in France taken from inside his house in Chalons-sur-Saône. He was a French inventor and in 1807 he and his brother invented the world’s first internal combustion engine. Following this he invented a heliographic image in 1827. This was an old process whereby you produce an image on a metal plate by engraving it. The technique is still used today however less for photography and more for engraving etc. Niepce was a very important part of the invention of photography and is still widely known to the day for his work.

Louis Daguerre & Daguerreotype:

Louis Daguerre was also a big name in the invention of photography. He was a French artist and photographer and like many of the others involved he named his invention after himself calling it the daguerreotype. He invented it in 1839 and it was the process which allowed people to create a highly detailed image on a copper sheet meaning they could preserve the image seen inside a Camera Obscura. To produce a daguerreotype the model has to sit still for around 10-15 minutes so that the image comes out clearly and the model is in focus. This being in mind, it makes it hard to produce portraits in such way, and is better for other types of images.

Henry Fox Talbot & Calotype:

 William Henry Fox Talbot was a British photography inventor. It was in 1835 when he discovered how to make and fix images through the action of light and chemistry on paper, and produced the first photographic negative to have survived to this day. This process was a big deal at the time because it allowed photographers to make multiple prints of an image. It was called the calotype and it allowed the time of the of exposure for the camera to be reduced to only one or two minutes. The calotype was able to reproduce image by simple contact printing as opposed to the daguerreotype which colour only replicate image by using a camera. The very first model of the calotype was a sheet of silver chloride coated paper that was exposed to light in a camera obscura, the areas of the paper that were hit by light became darker which yielded a negative image.

Robert Cornelius & self-portraiture:

Robert Cornelius was an American photographer and was also a big name in the invention and development of photography. He was who designed the photographic plates for the first portrait image taking in the USA in 1839. He then operated two of the earliest photography studios between 1841 and 1843, and within them he came up with way to reduce the exposure time when photographing. To take them image he set up his mini studio in the back of his families store in Philadelphia. He removed the lens cap of the camera and then sat in the frame for a minute before he covered the lens up again.

Julia Margaret Cameron & Pictorialism:

Julia Margaret Cameron was knows for her soft-focus, close up portraits of famous Victorian men and women. she became interested in the topic in in the late 1850’s and began photographing in the 1860’s after she was gifted a camera as a present in 1863 and after that she created a large body of work capturing the men and women’s characteristics and beauty. She was a very inventive woman and used an old chicken coop that she cleared out as her first studio. Whilst her photography career was short she made around 900 images over the time period of 12 years. Her portraits of famous men in particular have been greatly praised for being extraordinarily powerful.

Henry Mullins & Carte-de-Visit:

Henry Mullins moved to Jersey in 1848 when he set up a studio in the Royal Square. He worked with another photographer named Mr Millward for the first year and after that he worked alone in the same original studio for the next twenty six years. He also worked in London in 1860 briefly, but most of his work came from locals in Jersey who would pay him to have their portrait done by him. Mullins’ work was also displayed in the form of Dimond cameos, whereby he took different portraits of the same person looking in different directions and then presented them in the shape of a diamond with each portrait in the shape of an oval. This layout became very popular and is still used to this day.

As you can see in the image on the left Mullins took various images of very famous people. On the right you can see his diamond cameo layout style. 

William Collie:

William Collie was a Jersey photographer who used the Fox Talbot calotype. Though he was born in Scotland he was in business in Jersey in 1850 until 1878. He started out at a portrait painter, and that is what he first business over in Jersey was for. He was one of Jersey’s earliest photographers and operated until 1972. He took image before this like an image of a market women, as seen bellow, which still exists to this day that is in a private collection. This image was a part of his genre calotype portraits which were of French and Jersey women in the market. The images were later in the London Great Exhibition in 1851. Collie is one of the less known about photographers even thought he was a big name, he took images before he changed his business into art, however, his photography was very well known.

Bibliography:

https://www.camera-obscura.co.uk/article/what-is-a-camera-obscura https://www.streetlevelphotoworks.org/microsite/assets/downloads/the_camera_obscura_and_pin_hole_camera.pdf

http://etlevelphotoworks.org/microsite/assets/downloads/the_camera_obscura_and_pin_hole_camera.pdf

photoworks.org/microsite/assets/downloads/the_camera_obscura_and_pin_hole_camera.pdf

https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/camera-obscura/

https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/niepce-heliograph/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/article/milestones-photography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Daguerre https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/william-henry-fox-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Fox_Talbot

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tlbt/hd_tlbt.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cornelius

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Margaret_Cameron

https://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/Henry_Mullins

https://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/William_Collie

As a class we went down to the studio where we explored different lighting, how to adjust the camera to the specific lighting, and to produce high quality photographs. This photo shoot was done with a reflective placed on the opposite side to where the light was coming off, we had used a light box and a speed light, which is connected to the camera meaning the light would only work when the button is pressed on the camera. This system created a soft slit of light, coming from the side of the face. Where as a light box is a form of continuous light which stays lit all the time through the photo shoot.

I wanted to create an image that opposes how it should feel, this is why I have added cool, cold tones to a photograph where the model is smiling. in others I have changed them to a black and white versions as to me that’s what looked best and gave a higher value photograph.

Born in 1891 – 1973 he based his work while being in Peru, creating stunning portraits of his own social context while Europe and North America debated and struggled between pictorialism and straight photography. He was one of the first major Indigenous Latin American photographers. he is recognized for the profound historic and ethnic documentary value of his photographs. this also made him a unique photographer as his exceptionally strong portraits had a powerful message behind it, not only then but also today when all we have left is historic photograph about indigenous people.

Chambi as well as his signature portraits has also made many landscape photographs, which he sold mainly in the form of postcards.

“I have read that in Chile it is thought that the Indians have no culture, that they are uncivilized, that they are intellectually and artistically inferior in comparison to whites and Europeans. More eloquent than my opinion, in any case, are the graphic testimonies. It is my hope that an unbiased and objective witness will examine this evidence. I feel I am a representative of my race; my people speak through my photographs.” thought this statement of his, it shows the passion for his work, the connection and meaning to the photographs produced, as well as what they represent, the people, history. he has this deep connection with the photograph because he represents history that he is a part of, his own culture through people of his race. I like when he said “my people speak through my photographs.”, its this history and meaning Martin captures, and thought this quote you can clearly see his love for what he does, it isn’t just a meaningless works that was based on clicking a button and pointing a camera without thinking it through, he thinks ahead of everything before anything.

As he learned from English photographers about the camera and its new techniques, in his teens, this motivated him to become one himself.  For this he emigrated in 1908 to the city of Arequipa. Chambi was then a part of Cusqueña School of Photography. He exhibited while alive both in Peru and outside of it. Many critics claim that he divided his work into two groups: that of a commercial nature, which included commissioned portraits; and the other of a personal nature, which included his anthropological record, photographs of ethnic groups and a record of local traditions. as many other artists, his work started to get more appreciation only after his death in 1973, after his work been studied, appreciated and admired all over the world.

Músico quenista del Ande, is another work of Martin Chambi which presents an indigenous man playing an instrument which is likely to be a flute or it’s representative. I have found this image out of any that Chambi produced, very amusing as it give a sense of this realism, this purity, that Chambi simply caught a moment with his camera instead of creating it. What I mean by that is that the photograph itself doesn’t look staged, it doesn’t look like he purposely placed the man there, told him how to pose and where to look, this photograph simply is an addition to what was already happening, like the photograph is secondary to the moment, this is a reason why it makes an amazing historic photograph, it reveals the truth. This is what he wanted, he wanted to show the truth about his culture, to show the truth which was concealed by others, where it was thought that whites and Europeans are superior to them, that indigenous people “have no culture, that they are uncivilized, that they are intellectually and artistically inferior in comparison to whites and Europeans“. What he shows exactly in this photograph, is the opposite of this belief, he shows the culture, wisdom and art that comes with his race, this is through the clothing, the person and how they look like, the environment behind the man, but to me the most important factor is what he is doing and the face expression that is a response to his actions. He seems so at peace with who he is, and with what he is doing, this is why i think this is an excellent photograph to represent an overall look into his work as well as himself, the photographer (Martin Chambi).

Michelle has lived in Exeter, in the South West England, since 1987. Since then she has produced many of intriguing photographs of people. She has developed her style to mainly be environmental portraits. Her work is included in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.

She gives a description on her website to why she produced these images. I like how she wants to give these teenagers their sense of individuality and show they are part of our society and should not be looked at in a negative way, instead be seen as people of the future.

She has another project called “insula” https://www.michellesank.com/portfolios/insula , this was done in Jersey. as she talks about her residency and the mix of 19th century portraits, I found a link between this project and the other one mentioned earlier. what moves her a lot is political, community, social, economy and the environment she photographs. her photographs are a response to those topics.

Her work encompasses issues about social and cultural diversity and the challenges within, meaning there is much more to her images then just strangers that decide to pose for her. Within each person she saw a meaning that responds to a project she focuses on.

Response– most of Michelle’s work revolves around realism of the moment, where the people in her photographs are not staged but instead they are captured by her in the way to show who they are to her, their nature. To her, the woman she decided to photograph must of caught her eye, and she wanted to present her for what she felt like to Michelle. The way she is sitting and her position has an impact on how a viewer responds to the image. Her position also gives an insight of who she is. Without knowing the background information of the person, to me she makes the photograph so much more intriguing as her appearance contrasts with the background. Her clothing and makeup being dark, give her this mysterious feel. Because of her legs being visible and crossed over, I think this also has a relation to her as a person, to me she seems so mysterious because she reveals as much as conceals, this might of been done intentionally by the photographer or by the woman herself deciding her way of sitting. Even looking at her arms , one is open and one is not. the gesture of excessive makeup, which dramatized her intense gaze, could be a sign of her not wanting to to reveal her true self or maybe she isn’t aware of her true self yet. She makes me feel uneasy because she seems indecisive and this is why she makes the photograph overall a bit more confusing. she seems confident not only because of her appearance but because of the engagement with the camera, where she is looking straight at the lens.

In the photograph her belongings are displayed next to her, perhaps this was intentional and Michelle wanted to include them to show others an insight to her, who she is and what is personal to her. What I think was intentional is to frame her portrait in the white clouds behind her, meaning shoulders and her head, and to have the photograph to follow the rule of 3rds, where only 1/3 of the sky is visible.

Michelle made the camera be slightly out of focus, for the background to shift all the focus onto the woman. She doesn’t completely get rid of this background because I think she wants her to contrast against the background, she does so because everything in the back looks dull, the scenery and the weather, the scene is a common town view or an area that’s a bit socialised, and the clouds bounce off this light which makes them bright, but there aren’t many areas in the whole photograph that could be said to be colourful, the image as a whole is quite dim, even the woman wearing black clothing represents this area slightly but she doesn’t look like she’s blending with it at all, instead, she looks like she is challenging this area or the impact it had on her through her style and the way she wants to represent herself, like she is going against the current of what the area does to others, she’s fighting against it to not be this dull, boring scenery , to not be influenced by it, but instead be influenced by who she wants to be, this is why she looks extraordinary, and this is why Michelle wanted to photograph her and show her in this way, in the way where she is young as still has time to figure out who she wants to be but for now she has an idea of who she does not want to be and that enough.

PHOTO SHOOT

I have been able to photograph the school show. This opportunity allowed me to create interesting photographs of not only the show for the school paper, but also many environmental portraits of the actors on stage while they were performing.

Since I was also focusing on shooting pictures for the school as well as myself to use to respond to environmental portraits, I have produced a total of over 450 images, however I have only uploaded, to Lightroom, the ones that could be used as environmental portraits. then I have edited my best ones and showed my final outcomes.

SUB-SELECTION

EDITING

Final Images

Around the school I have produced a few images, to show a student life for the task, to produce images for a newspaper. I had limited time so I only produced around 5 images.

Final outcomes

Chiaroscuro Lighting

What is Chiaroscuro Lighting?

A high-contrast lighting technique that utilises a low-key lighting setup to achieve contrast between the subject and a dark background, emphasizing certain aspects of a scene or object that are in high-contrast light.

Creating Chiaroscuro Lighting

Examples of Chiaroscuro Lighting

Rembrandt Lighting

What is Rembrandt Light?

Rembrandt lighting is a technique utilizing one light and one reflector or two separate lights. It’s a popular technique because it creates images that look both dramatic yet natural. It’s predominantly characterized by a lit-up triangle underneath the subject’s eye on the less illuminated area of the face

Creating Rembrandt Lighting

Examples of Rembrandt Lighting

Butterfly lighting

What is Butterfly Lighting?

Butterfly lighting is a type of portrait lighting technique used primarily in a studio setting. Its name comes from the butterfly-shaped shadow that forms under the nose because the light comes from above the camera.

Creating Butterfly Lighting

Example of Butterfly Lighting

Rim Lighting

What is Rim Lighting?

A rim light is placed behind a subject that exposes the outline or rim of the subject with light. This lighting highlights the contours of a subject and creates a dramatic and mysterious effect. Rim lights can be used in a variety of ways. It can be created by pointing a bright light source towards the camera and placing someone/ a subject in front of the light, creating a silhouette like image.

Creating Rim Lighting

Examples of Rim Lighting

My Responses

Rembrandt Lighting

Chiaroscuro lighting

Rim Lighting

Butterfly lighting

Rembrandt Lighting:

Rembrandt Lighting is a technique used in portrait photography, started by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, a Dutch painter. The key factor of Rembrandt lighting is to brighten up a face so an upside down triangle is seen under the subjects eyes:

In the early 20th century, spotlights were introduced to Photography to create more realistic effects of lights and shadows. Rembrandt Lighting was one of the effects created by this and it became very popular in making promotional photographs of film stars:

You can create photos like these by:

Having the subject positioned in front of the backdrop. Make sure the light is placed at a 40 – 45 degree angle, higher than the subject. The camera should be using a 35mm or 50mm lens, the 35mm will give a wider point of view and the 50mm will give more depth of field:

Butterfly Lighting:

Butterfly Lighting is another technique in Lighting in Photography, usually used in a studio to make portraits. Other names used for this are “Paramount Lighting” and “Glamour Lighting”.

“Butterfly Lighting” gets it’s name from the butterfly-shaped shadow seen under the subjects nose. You can also see that this photo is quite sharp and very detailed in the subject’s face.

You can make these types of photos by:

Placing the subject in front of the backdrop looking forward straight into the camera. Have the main light behind you and above, shining downwards onto the subject’s face. If the face is still not bright enough you can have them hold a reflector which will help the light shine on their face more.

Chiaruscuro Lighting:

Chiaruscuro is another element in Lighting. Initially used in art in Italy during the 15th century, it’s used to create highlights and shadows:

Dark subjects were dramatically lighted by a shaft of light from a single constricted and often unseen source was a compositional device seen in the paintings of old masters such as Caravaggio and Rembrandt.

Later on, Chiaruscuro was implemented into film (Film noir). Which would create dramatic black and white shots:

How to create these photos:

Have the subject in front of the backdrop while having a key light shining on them. Include a reflector if necessary: