What is environmental portraiture and how is it used?

Environmental portraiture is a style of photography when a portrait is taken in the subject’s usual environment, such as in their home or workplace. The location is usually somewhere significant to them. Environmental portraits often provide context and insight into the life of the subject, possibly even displaying their personality or profession to offer a deeper understanding of who they are. Finally, this style of portraiture reveals an understanding of the person being photographed and depict the nature of their personality.

Moodboard

Typology in Environmental Portraiture

Typology refers to a series of photographs that share similarities within a specific category. Typologies are used by photographers to highlight patterns, variations and characteristics and allow the viewers to identify a common theme or subject.

Typologies can be presented in environmental portraiture by creating a variety of portraits which fit into groups such as ages, occupations, locations, workplaces, genders, hobbies and more. Additionally, other ways of creating a typology within environmental portraiture could be using similar camera angles, lighting techniques, subject placement or even colours. By presenting the images within a typological series, this can create a deeper understanding of the subject to the viewer.

What is an Environmental Portrait?

An environmental portrait shows a person in their working space or a spot associated with them for example a pianist at his piano. This tells us about the person and their typical surroundings while also placing them how someone else would view them. These are posed typically with the person in there centre engaging with the camera.

Photoshoot Action Plan:

Who

For this photoshoot I wanted to take photos of several people. It would be easiest to photograph people I already know as the photoshoot would be more natural. I would also already know these people so I would know where they spent time and what they mean to me.

• First would be my sister, she likes to bake cakes and has gotten really good at the basics.
• Second would be my father who works in the building trade to ensure houses and community spaces are safe for use.
• Finally my friend. Her house was damaged during the storm which has affected her family negatively.

What

Environmental portraits need a person in front of a meaningful background. I will take images where they are both engaging with the camera and looking away. Some will be front on and I would like some to experiment with foreground and positioning. Additionally I don’t want all the images to be of people just standing. So I will experiment with poses also.

Where

• My sister will need to be in a kitchen of some sort for a least a few images however I might try and position her at a stand or cake sale also holding her cakes.
• My father will be in front of some building site where construction is clearly underway. Ideally one which wont particularly safe either.
• My friend will be in front of storm damage. This could include fallen trees, damaged housing and excessive build up of debris.

How

For my sister I will set her up in a way where we can see the process of her baking and her. This will probably be by having her stand in front of a counter I can get behind so she can work as normal and I can see the whole thing. For my father I will make sure he’s wearing a helmet and hi vis jacket so that he looks like a builder and set him up in front of a building site. I will stand quite far back so that the background is visible too. For my friend I will try and experiment with poses and with props. I will also be stood back with a 55mm lens so that I see the whole background also. I will mostly be using natural lighting since these will be outside however for the insides I will experiment with lighting to find what looks best. I might set her up near a window or under some artificial lights but I’m unsure what will photograph best.

Environmental portraiture is:

a form of photography where it involves a person engaging with the camera whilst they are in an everyday surrounding, a place they are connected to.

The image produced tells a strong story about the subjects life, for example their occupation, heritage, home country, social class, etc. It acts as a form of ‘photo essay’ as the comfort of their natural area adds more context to the individuals image and what kind of life they lead. One of the main attributions of environmental portraiture is the expressions and poses that are captured which adds drama to the image, making it more captivating. This can reveal/conceal an individuals personality and the position they are at in an image can tell us about their traits and their attitude towards life.

The history of Environmental Portraiture:

Environmental portraiture originated in the 20th century, from the revolutionary Arnold Newman. During an era of traditional portrait photography, Newman pushed the boundaries of the regular and stepped outside of the box. In a time where social classes were extremely cared for, Newman aspired to photograph people of all occupations and social class. He stated that “it is what they are, not who they are, that fascinates me”.

With the almost exhausted look on the subjects face, this makes the image more enticing. We can interpret that this is a reflection of the tiring job the subject has and the contrast of this job back then and now. Also, this can appear to the viewer that the piano is taking up almost the entire image centre stage as its such a huge feature in the subjects life and shows the high level of passion he has for this career, making it more enhanced and a higher level of importance.

Mind Map:

Environmental portraits are photos of people in their environment instead of being them with a blank background it could be them in their workplace or their home.

Some examples of Environmental portraits…

A brainstorm about environmental portraits I created

jimmy nelson seems to take photos of very cultural portraits, he shows that he has a true passion for him and the people around him, he is inspiring people to become who they deserve to be the most and who they desire the most. He is showing us what different religion’s or cultures look like by showing us his, his photographs look really old and ancient which could represent that his culture has been round for a very long time and he wants people to know what it was like back in the day. What I really like about his work is that he involves different aged people to help us understand the culture more, we can see that children are involved as well as older people.

“Together we can love, and when we love we thrive. They are our guides, custodians of ancient knowledge. They celebrate life, free in every waking moment. Within your true identity, your heart is open to others”- jimmy Nelson.

I can see that Nelson talks about love and loving together, its almost a safe space around him, he’s protecting and supporting people, its almost a way of saying that everyone is different but in their own unique way, and we are allowed to express ourselves differently. Each photo has different emotions which can change the photos mood completely. For example a sad expression could represent fear or ashamed that feeling different is a bad thing. However having a person look more relaxed shows that they feel safe and comfortable whether its in themselves to their surroundings. Nelson also refers to your heart being open to other which cold suggest that sometimes you need to let people in to have a special bond and connection with someone but also to help express yourself and heal your inner soul. He could also mean different things such as opening your heart is away of expressing who you are and don’t hide yourself from reality. I personally believe that he is trying to say that no matter what, you always have your heart open for people even if you don’t intend to, which can lead to heartbreaks or happiness.

His photographs tend to have a dark background and the models are also wearing darker colours, there isn’t a bright colour is shown. This also changes the mood of the photographs and makes me feel more calm instead of happy and joyed.

Mordzinski is a photographer with a very specific niche in black and white portrait photography of latin American authors.

Each photo is very individual and impactful in his portal of the authors, because he is so consistent in his style and niche he is extremely specialised and talented in this style of photography, he always manages to produce an image that invokes emotion and create a sense of personal undertanding towards the author he is potraying.

Although more renowned photographers such as Arnold Newman and woody Allen are extremely talented and in the world of portrait photography considered the best in the game, with some very thought provoking and emotion enduring work i personally find Mordinzski’s work and commitment to his very specialised area more impressive in many capacities, not only is his ability to stick to such a specific personal style a clear representation of his love and personal devotion to his project the ‘Human Atlas’ that love and devotion always shows through his work.

All of his photographs have a depth of personal character and emotion that is very hard to capture without a long personal history with the model this is inspiring to me for many reasons not only is he extremely talented and consistently produces high quality photography but he also evokes deep thought and consideration in his audience.

For the route i want to take in my experiments with environmental portraits photography i believe he is the best photographer for me to draw inspiration from.

The Human Atlas

Known as “the writers’ photographer,” Daniel Mordzinski has been working on his ambitious “human atlas” of Iber-american literature for 38 years.  The Argentine photographer, who lives between Paris and Madrid, has created portraits of the most important figures in Latin-American literature.  The author of numerous books, Mordzinski’s works are continuously exhibited in Latin America’s most important museums and are included in the best collections of contemporary photography.  He is an important literary festivals photographer.

MOODBOARD

An environmental portrait is a portrait executed in the subject’s usual environment, for example their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject’s life and surroundings. The term is most frequently used of a genre of photography.

The surroundings or background is a key element in environmental portraiture, and is used to convey further information about the person being photographed.

While it is often true that the background may dominate the subject, this need not necessarily be so. In fact, the details that convey the message from the surroundings can often be quite small and still be significant. It can be used as a way to tell a story.

Two good rules of thumb when attempting to photograph people in their surroundings:

1. “Half of all location photography is moving furniture.”

2. “‘Available light’ means any light that’s available.”

Both sayings have been attributed to the great location portraitist Arnold Newman. More importantly, each can help spell the difference between a good environmental portrait and a great one.

Why shoot environmental portraits?

• they give context to the subject you’re photographing
• they give points of interest to shots (something you need to watch as you don’t want to distract from your subject too much)
• they help your subject relax
• they often give the viewer of your shots real insight into the personality and lifestyle of your subject

These shots sit somewhere between the purposely posed shots of a studio portrait (they are posed and they are unmistakably ‘portraits’) and candid shots which capture people almost incidentally as they go through their daily life.

Some important objectives are:

Spend time getting to know your subject.

Choosing a Location- Your person needs to associate with the background or location.

Props

Posing- This can depend on the mood/tone of your image.

Camera Settings

Typologies- A body of work with a consistent style. Often portrayed in many different forms, some being in a structured group with equal spacing in-between or a particular style in general like the style of environmental portraits. Environmental portraits are often associated with the style of typology as they are always structed images with the same idea of the subject looking into the camera and often centred.

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