-Environmental portraiture

Arnold Newman is widely renowned for pioneering and popularizing the environmental portrait.

With his method of portraiture, he placed his sitters in surroundings representative of their professions, aiming to capture the essence of an individual’s life and work. A musician, for instance, might be photographed in their recording studio or on stage, a Senator or other politician in their office or a representative building.

Why did Arnold Newmann start photography?

Arnold stressed that he was motivated by a genuine interest in his subjects, and in the craft of photography. He is well-known for his portraits of artists, such as Igor Stravinsky, Marilyn Monroe, and Pablo Picasso, and political figures (which he focused on in the 1960s), such as John F.

He also mentioned that the work of the Cubists, including Picasso, influenced the way he structures a photograph.

Story of Alfred Krupp’s Portrait by Arnold Newman

When Alfred Krupp first saw his portrait he was furious. Convicted Nazi had his portrait taken in 1963 by Arnold Newman who was Jewish . Newsweek commissioned Arnold Newman to take his portrait but he refused. He saw the convicted (and later pardoned) war criminal as the devil but later changed his mind as he decided to put a knife in his back.

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. “As a Jew, it’s my own little moment of revenge.” “It was my impression of a Nazi who managed to survive yet killed millions of people” he said.

Analysis:

An environmental portrait is a photographed portrait that captures subjects in their natural surroundings instead of in a studio or other artificial setup.

Good environmental portraits will tell strong stories of their subjects. Their immediate surroundings will give the viewer insight into where these people are, what they do, and who they are. Locations that help to tell a person’s story could be places where they relax, work, or play: Their home.

MOOD BOARD:

MIND MAP:

With my final images, i framed them by mounting them onto foam board and sticking them onto a black board and more foam board.

I paired these two together as they have the theme of water in common.

These two images are from the same photoshoot, they are slightly different images and one image is in black and white so i boarded them next to each other.

Why did I choose Agriculture for Anthropocene?

I chose to do agriculture for this project as Jersey struggles with the pollution caused by agriculture that eventually ends up washing into our oceans. I also chose this topic as I thought i could capture some abstract images as well as landscape ones.

How did i plan?

originally, i planned to complete 3 photoshoots: agriculture, plastics and oil pollution in the sea. However, I was only able to complete 2 of the photoshoots, agriculture and plastics. Although i was only able to complete two of the photoshoots, it put me at an advantage as it would of been hard to find oil pollution in the sea in Jersey. This photoshoot was hard as the weather has been very dark, gloomy and rainy, so I chose to do the photoshoot on days where it was not raining. Even when it wasn’t raining the lighting was always very dim so this was hard.

Photoshoot – experimenting with editing

My photoshoots were carried out along the front on St Helier/ St Aubin’s beach. The plan was to photograph the pollution caused by agriculture so I found the different drains spread along the beach to photograph. The lighting was gradually becoming darker throughout the shoot so this was challenging to work with, however, it gave me a variety of different images with different lightings to work with.

What went well and what could have been done better?

on a whole, I feel my mock exam would have turned out a lot better if I had more time to complete the photoshoots. I wasn’t able to complete the photoshoots i initially had planned so i wasn’t happy with this. Also, with the photoshoots i did complete, particularly the beach photoshoot i did, i feel would have went a lot better if i had more time to do the same shoot on different days. This would allow me to photograph in a range of different lights. I was unable to do this as it was difficult to get out when it wasn’t raining or really cloudy, as the weather was bad. On top of all of this, i didn’t give myself as much time as i should of to complete the photoshoots.

Although i feel there was lot’s of negatives to this photoshoot, during this exam and looking at my final outcomes, i am very happy with my images. I was able to edit them on photoshop and Lightroom to a way i wanted them. As a result of not having time to do multiple shoots for this photoshoot, i was left with a range of different photos. From the landscape of the sea, to the photos of the drains, so i am overall very happy with my final outcomes.

With the plastic photoshoot i did, i was able to collect plastic and rubbish, however, i struggled when actually carrying out the photoshoot as it was difficult to get the angles and lighting right.

With this photoshoot, i was able to do a shoot in the school studio and one at home; this allowed me to have a variety of images under the same photoshoot, with different backgrounds, angles and subjects. I was happy with the way this photoshoot came out, in comparison to my artist references. However, i felt my final images from the beach photoshoot were stronger then the plastics photoshoot, so i used those as my final images to put in the print folder.

Overall evaluation on Anthropocene:

I enjoyed doing this project but wish I had more time to complete my photoshoots to my best ability, I am pleased with my final outcomes however I do think they are limited and that i could do much better and more on task outcomes.

Thirza Schaap’s ‘plastic ocean’ project combines sculpture with photography and examines our changing relationship with plastics and the increasing and overwhelming presence they have in our lives. 

At a first glance, the debris do not disgust us. On the contrary. Their dainty look almost seems to gloss over the ugliness of all the plastic pollution on our beaches. But only for an instant. Our initial attraction, soon fades.

Thirza Schaap:

This image shows a clash between worlds, offering minimal and aesthetically pleasing compositions which, on closer inspection, in-still a sense of ecological grief.  Plastic Ocean questions consumption, idolatry and what it is we value in our lives today. The effect is a quirky, playful and pop art paradox. 

Plastic Ocean provides a kind of Vanitas for the 21st century. Traditional icons of mortality, ephemerality and wealth have been traded out for bottles, baskets and bowls: single-use items which are used and discarded, now only existing as empty vessels of destruction.

My image:

I liked Thirza Schaap’s style of work, relating to the Anthropocene project, as she took rubbish and plastic debris which is usually seen as disgusting, and made art out of it by creating these images.

I did my own photo shoot, inspired by Schaap’s work. I used plastic bottles, containers and cans. For some contrast i decided to add plastic buttons and sea glass, this added some depth to the image as well as fitting in with the Anthropocene/ plastic pollution theme.

unedited:

editing:

I sharpened the image, added texture. Also, i increased the saturation and contrast but decreased the exposure. This resulted in a simple image, although more defined, clear and colourful than the original.

outcome:

unedited:

In the original image I took, the image above, I used the ‘close up’ setting on the camera. The image is good quality however, quite boring.

editing:

I made this image black and white. I increased the highlights and ‘whites’ to emphasise the effect of using the flash when taking this image.

outcome: