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.
Organist in the Ink Chapel (1936)Víctor Mendívil with a farmer from Paruro (1932)
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.
Martín ChambiJuan de la Cruz Sihuana, Cuzco Studio1925
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.
Martin Chambi, , Músico quenista del Ande – Cusco 1932
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.
Researching her and her work I found on her website, which stores all the work she has produced, a variety of different projects she has done in the past. after looking at them, the one that interested me the most was a project titeld “Teenagers Belfast” https://www.michellesank.com/portfolios/teenagers-belfast , the above images are from this project.
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.
Teenagers Belfast_7, Michelle Sank
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.
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.
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.
I gained inspiration from Martin Chambi’s work, specifically how he frames his images, although he is not a contemporary artist I wanted to test my knowledge on environmental portraits, and try out myself to create environmental portraits based on people in their work space this is why I am planning to visit areas in town. town is the biggest area in jersey of multiple and different businesses and employees, that hopefully I will be able to capture.
Mood board
The above mood board is what I inspire to either produce or take some tips from these photographs, I like portraits in a quite messy environment or an environment that has a lot going on, that’s why I’ll inspire to chose those types of environments. I would want to create images similarly to the ones above, experimenting with angles and different framings.
Who– I will ask random strangers that I find interesting looking as well as people who represent their environment very well. Mainly these will be people in their working environments.
What-There may be equipment that people hold in order to do their job, I will try to include them to represent them and their job. This adds also depth in the images, an insight of the profession. as well as the environment there may be many other items in the backroud.
Where– St Helier, Town, in many different businesses, shops which I’ll stumble across , these pictures will be inside based in peoples work instead of them being outdoor photographs.
When– One day during the week day, either during my free period or after school. Since I want to photograph people in their work I should pay attention to the usual working hours 9-5pm and know that during certain hours like 12pm-1pm it may get more busy, I should chose times where businesses/shops would be quiet and still open.
How– Doing my research on photographs and looking at how an environmental portrait should be taken, I will try to capture people in fast shutter speed as they may be moving a lot, and I don’t want to take up huge amounts of their time,.
Why– To get an understanding on how it not only is to take an environmental portrait but how it is to make connections with people while taking the photographs. As I have never done this before, I would have to also learn to get out of my comfort zone to speak and ask strangers to pose for me.
Alfred Krupp, industrialist. Essen, Germany, 1963 by Arnold Newman
Emotional Response
Technical – how was the photo taken
Visual -what can we see in the image
Conceptual – why was the photo taken / presented
Contextual – who, when, where etc…the story, background, impact
Emotional Response-At fist glance the photograph makes me feel unsteady and conscious, alert that something bad may happen. the image is very similar, because of the setting and colour, to ones one might see in an action movie, when a fight is happening. the man in the photograph, although I yet know not much about, seems in control, giving a sense that he has power. the colours give a dramatic tone to the image making me feel repulsed and uncomfortable as I feel like in an a place where I don’t belong. This photograph is the opposite of what calm and welcoming, and I think there’s a reason behind that.
Visual –As an environmental portrait, this photograph has a major element of not only the person in the foreground, but the environment in the background. the man being the main focus in the photograph, is positioned right in the middle, in the lower half of the image. he is in a place that seems like an old train station, because of the tracks and train wagons behind him, but this place also looks like a factory, perhaps a train factory definitely not open to the public as it seems secretive. the are a lot of lighting in this train station, however most of the lighting is focused onto illuminating the background rather than the man. as the image is quite dark itself, the man seems more ominous with very controlled lighting only falling onto the sides of his face. his figure is silhouetted as not much lighting shows of his identity, but I can see his eyes looking directly into the camera’s lens, with his hands bellow his chin. he is sat on the seats of the train station and is looking intensely at the camera with a blank expression. as he is wearing a suit he seems like a man of great power and high status. other things that I notice are the pillars onto each side of the man and a ruffed edge of them at the top of the image, above the mans head.
Technical – as the man is the main focus, he is positioned in the middle of the photograph. the photograph has a lot of symmetry , with the pillars on each side being exposed by the same amount, the lights being directly above the man, and the 2 train wagons being opposite each other, all this creates a sense of belonging an balance. The man himself also is a part of this symmetry, his body position is shaped like a pyramid and even his hand create a tringle, this triangle is also visible opposing the man, as the light above him also create a tringle shape as they lead back. This also creates depth in the photograph, giving an impression that everything is leading to the man, which is the main focus. What the photographer might of found difficult when creating this photograph, is controlling the lighting, as behind the man, the environment is quite bright however the foreground is the opposite of that. there is sharp lighting on the mans face, from either side this might have been controlled by the photographer, but if it was then he intentionally wanted to show that this man is important and make people scared of the power he holds.
Conceptual and Contextual – Arnold Newman, being the photographer, was Jewish, “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 and many other groups during the Holocaust, like communists, Jehovah witness, gay men and socialists, happened from 1939 to 1945. Whereas this image was taken after the war in 1963. Alfred Krupp was a big figure responsible for the transportation of recourses through a family company, known formally as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, a key supplier of weapons and materiel to the German Government and a big help for Hitler during the war. He went through a trial due to Krupp’s wartime employment of slave labour. He served in prison only 3 years. “It was my impression of a Nazi who managed to survive yet killed millions of people” he said. he wanted to place Krupp against an industrial backdrop.
Overall Arnold Newman wanted to show Alfred Krupp in a way that makes the public aware of the man for what he did, he showed him in this specific way, like the environment, lighting, position etc., to make him represent the cruel things he was able to do because of power. This is the reason why even without knowing the context of the image or any history or meaning to why it was taken, the viewer can still develop a meaning in their mind which will be influenced by how Alfred Krupp was represented in this image.
“An environmental portrait is a portrait executed in the subject’s usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject’s life and surroundings. The term is most frequently used of a genre of photography“, shortened- a photograph that includes the person and the environment, for example behind them.
An environmental portrait is a photographed portrait that captures subjects in their natural surroundings instead of in a studio or other artificial setup. this means for a good environmental portrait photograph, the persons’ immediate surroundings will give the viewer insight into where these people are, what they do, and who they are, the location usually has a link to the person, these could be Locations that help to tell a person’s story could be places where they relax, work. for example a garage for a mechanic or person that spend their time there, either for passion or work or both.
Mood Board
Above I have created a Mood Board showing a rage of different environmental portraits that interest me. What I have found when analysing the mood board is that I have included both portrait in which a person is facing away from the camera or they are doing their job which links to the environment, and photograph that have a person being in a still position, looking at the camera.
One of the most important photographers, which their work linked to the title of environmental portraits are:
August Sander (1876 – 1964)
Konditor August Sander German ca. 1928, printed 1976
Paul Strand (1890 – 1976)
“The Mayor, Luzzara,” 1953.
Arnold Newman (1918 – 2006)
Roy Lichtenstein, American pop artist, South Hampton, N.Y., 1976
Daniel Mordzinski (1960 – )
Elica Ramos MORDZINSKI, Daniel 2002
Mary Ellen Mark (1940 – 2015)
Erin (Tiny) Charles, 1983; from the September 4, 2006, issue.
As I have previously done a virtual gallery, similarly I have physically displayed me images. Done by using foam board, black board, mounting up the images. I have use the same techniques, learned from the still life project.
