An environmental portrait is a photograph that captures the person surrounded by their usual environment that relates to them, for instance their workplace or home. The purpose of an environmental portrait is to show a persons life or story in the photos and the background or objects used to show their life in them. They are formal photos where the person in them is making eye-contact with the camera.

Still life is a painting/drawing of a varied amount of objects, typically including fruit, flowers and objects contrasting these in texture such as bowls and glassware.

Artists mostly associated with still life are Paul Cézanne, Henry Matisse and Georges Braque.

Still life comes from the Dutch word stilleven,  created in the 17th century when paintings of objects enjoyed immense popularity throughout Europe.

Emotional

The effect of this image makes me feel uncomforted because it is dark, looks cold, gloomy, rough, creates a male stereotype look and how the walls haven’t been cleaned shows unhygienic which also leads to uncomforting. He also has no emotion in his face which makes us feel like he is stopping us from entering.

Visual

Their is a dark, abandoned look to the photograph by having the bottom of the photo really dark an the overall photo dark with the man staring straight at the camera in the middle and the only light source being the sunlight through the windows above. Everything in the background looks old, industrial, rusty, stained or has graffiti on.

Technical

The two pillars and the perspective help create symmetry on the photo because it keeps the man in the middle with equal objects on each side. The light is used from different side angles, (left and right of his body), with one coming in from behind showing us that he is the main subject in the photograph.

Conceptual

The portrait captured the essence of Krupp’s character, making him look like the embodiment of evil. He took this photo because he was Jewish and Krupp was a convicted Nazi war criminal. But eventually after many refuses, Newman agreed as a form of personal revenge. It then later became one of the most controversial and significant images of it’s time.

Contextual

Newman was very popular for using his skillful techniques such as natural light. His work was influenced by the work of the Cubists, including Picasso, influenced the way he structures a photograph. He is mostly important for pioneering and popularizing the environmental portrait.

some of his work:

– Image Analysis.

1963

-Alfred Krupp is the man in the photo

Emotional-

• cold – lighting the building looks cold.
• intimidating- him staying at us almost thinking.
• harsh- white lighting
• I do like it, its intruiging.

Visual-

• dull
• train factory, looks broken down.
• man sat inside in the centre.
• daylight coming through glass sky pannels.
• looks like it goes far back
• looking up leaning on his hands angry looking.

Technical-

• natural lighting, coming through the roof.
• balanced compostion, by the 2 pillars either side holding him in.
• he is the point of focus and the further we go back the more detail we lose.
• organised and structered.
• light from above shine down with side lihgting which creates a gloomy effect.
• in a train station you would want good lighting
• triangular composition which is strong and harsh.
• makes us center and focus on i’m and his expression.
• similarity lighting to a church.
• lots of visual detail up close.

Conceptual-

• Jewish photographer Arnold Newman was commissioned by Newsweek to take a portrait of Alfred Krupp, a convicted Nazi war criminal. At first, Newman refused, but eventually, he decided to take the assignment as a form of personal revenge.
• Upon seeing the portrait, Krupp was furious. Nevertheless, the image was published and became one of Newman’s most famous works. The portrait served as a powerful reminder of the atrocities committed during World War II and the individuals who were responsible for them.
• Alfred Krupp designed and developed new machines, invented the spoon roll for making spoons and forks, and manufactured rolling mills for use in government mints.

Contextual-

• 1963
• Alfried Krupp, the son of Gustav Krupp, was born in Essen, Germany, on 13th August, 1907. After studying engineering in Munich and Berlin he joined his father’s company, Friedrich Krupp AG, that by the First World War was Germany’s largest armaments company.
• Krupp and his father were initially hostile to the Nazi Party. However, in 1930 they were persuaded by Hjalmar Schacht that Adolf Hitler would destroy the trade unions and the political left in Germany. Schacht also pointed out that a Hitler government would considerably increase expenditure on armaments. In 1933 Krupp joined the Schutzstaffel (SS).
• As a result of the terms of the Versailles Treaty the Krupp family had been forced to become producers of agricultural machinery after the First World War. However, in 1933, Krupp factories began producing tanks in what was officially part of the Agricultural Tractor Scheme. They also built submarines in Holland and new weapons were developed and tested in Sweden.
• During the Second World War Krupp ensured that a continuous supply of his firm’s tanks, munitions and armaments reached the German Army. He was also responsible for moving factories from occupied countries back to Germany where they were rebuilt by the Krupp company.
• Krupp also built factories in German occupied countries and used the labour of over 100,000 inmates of concentration camps. This included a fuse factory inside Auschwitz. Inmates were also moved to Silesia to build a howitzer factory. It is estimated that around 70,000 of those working for Krupp died as a result of the methods employed by the guards of the camps.
• In 1943 Adolf Hitler appointed Krupp as Minister of the War Economy. Later that year the SS gave him permission to employ 45,000 Russian civilians as forced labour in his steel factories as well as 120,000 prisoners of war in his coalmines.
• Arrested by the Canadian Army in 1945 Alfred Krupp was tried as a war criminal at Nuremberg. He was accused of plundering occupied territories and being responsible for the barbaric treatment of prisoners of war and concentration camp inmates. Documents showed that Krupp initiated the request for slave labour and signed detailed contracts with the SS, giving them responsibility for inflicting punishment on the workers.
• Krupp was eventually found guilty of being a major war criminal and sentenced to twelve years in prison and had all his wealth and property confiscated. Convicted and imprisoned with him were nine members of the Friedrich Krupp AG board of directors. However, Gustav Krupp, the former head of the company, was considered too old to stand trial and was released from custody

-sparticuseducational.com

Emotional –

• Intimidated
• Uneasy
• Afraid
• Eary
• Sinister

Visual – The subject in the photo is a man who is the main focus. He is staring into the camera which makes the viewer feel intimidated. He is also wearing a black t shirt, he is tanned and he looks fairly old. This man is surrounded by a factory which looks like a train factory and I have inferred this because I can see there is a half made train and lots of different broken parts. Technical -There is a line of symmetry down the middle. There is also a slight blur as the further we look in the picture which makes the subject the main focus of the photo. The lighting is also placed art the front on each side of the man in the middle which makes the middle of the mans face fairly dark and makes the rest of the photo lit up by the lighting that is pointed towards it. Conceptual – Who cares that a picture is worth a thousand words when two can be worth a career change. Take the time a young Arnold Newman stumbled across a book of Theodore Roosevelt photos and two of them stuck out. “On the cover shot, which was supposed to represent him, he looked like an overstuffed walrus,” said Mr. Newman in a 1994 interview with The Boston Globe. “Inside there was a picture of him with his foot on a rhino, growling like mad. I thought, ‘My God, that is Teddy Roosevelt!’” Mr. Newman went on to photograph Eleanor Roosevelt, Pablo Picasso, Frank Lloyd Wright, Golda Meir, Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe, Salvador Dalí, and the former president Bill Clinton: decidedly on his own terms. There would be no overstuffed costume fittings or stark studios. Mr. Newman’s portraits were defined by his sitter’s environments, which led him to be known as the “father of the environmental portrait.” Contextual – In 1963 Arnold Newman took this picture of Alfred Krupp. Newman was Jewish and Krupp was a Nazi which made this photograph extremely unusual. Krupp admired Newman’s work and wanted Newman to take a photo of him, however when Newman told Krupp to lean forward, he put crossed his fingers and put his hands under his chin for his face to lean on which was his natural response when Newman told him what to do. Newman quickly took the photograph of Krupp like this and he hated it. Newman chose to keep this photograph as it showed Krupp’s true self as he looked extremely eerie and dark when he glared into the camera so harshly. This was Newman’s way of revenge as Krupp had disrespected his community in ways that can not be described.

what is an Environmental Portrait?

An Environmental Portrait is a photograph that captures the subject in an environment they are typically found in, or tell a story of their life and surrounding.

This can also consist of their working environment’s or places they’re associated with. For example An elderly person in a care home, or someone who’s tanned in a sunny environment.

Mood Board:

Mind map –

Environmental Portraits:

• must create a story in the viewers mind about the subject.
• Props – helps establish an identity with the subject.
• shows the subjects environment – e.g. Workplace, home, associated locations.
• Indoor and outdoor photos – creates a Identity to the picture.
• More than one person – creates a setting of tone or emotions.
• Direct eye contact or subjected gaze -.
• Emotions of the subject – helps form that portraits story.

Artist Study –

August Sander:

“It is not my intention either to criticize or to describe these people, but to create a piece of history with my pictures.” – August Sander

Intro:

August Sander, Born in Germany on November 17th 1876, grew up meeting other well known photographers in Germany such as Heinrich Schmeck. seeing his interest in photography, Sanders’ uncle helped him buy his first Camera.

Later going on to study under apprenticeships in the military and in berlin and other cities, he received further education as an observer at the Royal Academy of Art.

His photographs, taken of thousands of people around Germany, capture little to none emotion from the subjects, yet tell an enriching in depth story of their life’s. Collected in a Portfolio spanning from photos as early as 1904 all the way until his death in 1964, he named this era of art ‘people of the 20th century’. His photos can be seen to date through many time periods, documenting a society’s growth or down fall and different social classes.

A visual demonstration of this can be seen through the change in military clothing made by the changing of rulers of the country. The old era of Kaiser Wilhelm’s imperialistic uniform to Adolf Hitler’s Fascist regimes uniforms shows this.

Individual photo study –

Konditor (Pastry Chef), 1928

Like many of his photos, this one, to me clearly demonstrates the factors that make up Sander’s genre of an Environmental Portrait.

Taken on a technologically outdated large formatted camera that was made up of glass negatives and long exposure times, this allowed Sander to capture as much detail on his subjects faces, body and environment. According to a letter he sent to another photographer, Sanders photos were taken with a corresponding light filter and a clear fine grained glossy paper, These were then made on a 13 x 18cm plates and then enlarged into 18 x 24cm which is equivalent to a 5 x 7 large image format nowadays.

Usually having a fairly low aperture, this allowed the image to create a 3D effect on the subject, making them standing out yet still containing details of their environment such as in this image I’ve decided to analyse.

The subject’s bowl, flour covered floor and cooking equipment are all still visible to create and formulate his identity.

Shown in the quote I have used, Sander’s creates ‘a piece of history’ with his photographs as by taking these environmental portraits, he immortalises these people from the past.

Other examples:

As mentioned before, Sander followed a set out genre of how he took his photos, capturing the entire subject or as a close up this visually makes us focus on their whole appearance and helps us to recognise their identity of how they are dressed and their environment. Relying on natural lighting to create detail on his subjects faces this can be seen in the middle image that shows a beam of light streaking over the bricklayers face. formulating a contrast to the darkness that surrounds the darkness consumes the lower-half of his clothes it is clear Sanders intent on how me carefully may of positioned the subject for this photograph.

overall, I believe August Sander’s work is a significant demonstration of how an environmental portrait is taken and has a place in Photography as an important foundation for its use.

Inspiration and similarities with other Photographers –

Inspired in his youth by Heinrich Schmeck, Sander’s photography can be seen to take influence in some of his early work.

Being awarded at many exhibitions, Sander’s work can be seen to very influential amongst other photographers. Due to taking photos in a fixed genre of black and white. Others that do something similar can be seen to replicate that.

Alys Tomlinson –

Vanessa Whinship –

Alec Soth –

Photography Elements Analyse –

Arnold Newman was born on march 3 1918 in New York City. He attended school in Atlanta and Miami beach Florida. Arnold Newman’s photography looks at people in there working place or in a location that has meaning to them and is relatable to them, his work is mainly Environmental Portraits of artists and politicians, most of his photos are in black and white and his photos are quite formal but also very raw and true to life as he captures them in specific moments like when they are at work or doing a hobby they are interested in. The models he is taking pictures of are sometimes posing for the camera than having a picture taken of them when they are working in there environment, which makes the pictures formal.

Arnold Newman also took a picture of Alfred Krupp and took a picture of him when the light was just perfect on his face and made him loo like the malicious man that he was, in the background there was the train station where he had all the supplies for the Nazi war and showcased that he did horrible things in the war and worked people to death he used concentration camp prisoners as labour workers, and then published the photo that krupp specifically said o delete making him known as a horrible man to the rest of the world.

Mood Board

Photoshoot plan:

To create photos inspired by Walker Evans I will be using tools as his photography of tools has inspired my to do so. I will use a manual camera setting to take the photos along with my own set up of a white card background to achieve a clear background similar to the one in Evans’ photography.

For my single object photoshoot I experimented with different coloured gels for the background of my photos in addition to the plain white background.

Best photos:

Editing:

I applied the pre-set to the photo and I also cropped and rotated it slightly so that it was level.

I also applied the pre-set to this photo however I found that it was slightly on the cooler tone rather than a neutral one so I adjusted the temperature on the white balance.

To complete this edit I then rotated it so that the fork was exactly in the centre of the photo. This is my favourite photo as I like the way that the highlights hit the fork in the different areas.

My final set of images

I chose to use these as my final set of images. I chose to set it out in this was as it is an example of typology photography. I used these three photos as they were my best and clearest ones. I edited each separately to enhance the quality and make them clearer and sharper so that the final product would be good quality. I chose to place the fork in the center as the background is slightly darker in comparison to the two other photos, the object used in that photo is also thinner than the others therefore placing it on the side would most likely take the focus away from it as it doesn’t stand out as much.

Typology Photography: A photographic typology is a single photograph or more commonly a body of photographic work, that shares a high level of consistency. This consistency is usually found within the subjects, environment, photographic process, and presentation or direction of the subject.

This is an example of typology as all the objects in the photo grid share a common aspect, they are all cameras.

Jason Jackson.

Jason Jackson is a visual artist specializing in photography. Originally he was hailing from Riverhead, New York, however he has resided in Harlem for over 20 years. Jackson is extremely talented at illustrating current events through the lens of candid and spontaneous moments of everyday life. Most of his work is mainly based on Documentarian, Street, Travel and Portrait Photographer. He has lots of work where he shows an environmental portrait.

Some of his work is in black and white which I quite liked and want to use as an editing technique in my photos. His work is quite raw and harsh and tends to show the political climate and culture all around the world. He quotes “Shoot with authenticity and let the picture tell the story.” which really inspired me when it came to think about how I was shooting my pictures and really allowed me to be engaged in my work.

He also says, “Also, being a Black photographer I do believe that I have an obligation and responsibility to capture the “Black experience” in my work.

Some of his pictures,

Jackson did lots lots of projects, these are some of the names of his projects:

• NYC STREETS.
• Black Lives Matter, NYC.
• NYC COLOUR.
• EL Rostro Flea Market.
• Mermaid Parade.
• Loisaida Street Festival.
• Street Gymnasts of Madrid

NYC STREETS

Black lives matter, NYC

NYC COLOUR

EL Rostro Flea Market.

Mermaid Parade.

Loisaida Street Festival.

Street Gymnasts of Madrid

Image analysis of one of the pictures above.

Technical: The lighting in the pictures seems to be taken with natural lighting. You can see that it is taken outside where light from the sun was very present. Even if the picture is edited in black and white, it is evident that the picture was well lit. The picture is extremely focused. You can tell the shutter speed is high because this picture is candid but also professional so to freeze the moment/movement, shutter speed needs to be increased. This picture also has depth of field and is quite soft. The picture has good exposure because, even though it was edited in black and white the light in this picture is truly clear. The trees are blurred and not focused. The people are the focus especially the man in the Centre sitting down. Lastly the picture has a cold tone to it because of the black and white.  

Contextual & Conceptual: Although the context of this picture is not clear even after much research, El Rastro Flea Market is a market in Madrid which is among the most popular open-air flea markets in the city. It is held on Sundays and public vacations and offers a wide variety of products. The market is known for its variety of new and previously owned products, as well as the many antique shops surrounding the area. In my understanding, this picture shows a sense of sonder. Sonder means the profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passing in the street, has a life as complex as one’s own, which they are constantly living despite one’s personal lack of awareness of it. The man is the symbol of sonder. As you can see in the picture, everyone is in their own life, living and constructing their own life without worrying about other people’s lives, focusing on themselves. The man symbolises how just stopping for a moment and becoming uncomfortably aware from your surroundings, you realise that you are not the only one living and doing your own thing. The man is procrastinating about something, or he was tired and exhausted of sitting all day waiting for some type of income from the things he is selling on the floor but not having any luck because of people’s ignorance and self-absorbance.

Visual:

• Color: black and white, however there are some lighter white and blacks. It is not just bland, black, and white without shading. It has shading.  
• Tone: the tone in this picture varies, there are some light tones but some tones that are quite dark, mostly seen in clothes that are dark colored or just black.  
• Texture: The picture has a variety of textures. On the back, where there are trees, it is evident that the trees are quite blurred so not as focused but then if you look where the man is sitting in the center, the picture is much sharper and has more depth.  
• Form: the picture is overall 3D,  
• Pattern: in this picture there is quite a lot of repetition. There are lots of people, a lot of them are doing something, busy. There are lots of trees too.  
• Space: The space in this picture is quite full. There is not any part of the picture where there is a certain stillness to it. It is busy and chaotic.  
• Composition: This picture does not have any type of organization because it is a candid picture not professional, so the photographer did not organize it or purposefully set up the background like that. Some parts of people are not in frame so again it means that the setting was not organized. This photo was taken from eye level and has contrast between different shades of black and white. It does not follow the rule of thirds as lots of the space in the picture is full, so it does not the subject in the left or right third of an image, leaving the other two thirds more open.