What are Environmental portraits?

An Environmental photo is a photo taken of a person, usually head on, of them in their ‘natural environment’ ( place of work etc.. )

The first Environmental portrait was first created by a man named Arnold Newman ( 1918 – 2006 ). He was known for pioneering and popularising the environmental portrait.

He placed his ‘models’ in their normal work environment when he took the photo so he could represent their professions, aiming to capture the essence of an individuals life and work.

Environmental portrait mood board –

To me, these photos represent a lot more then just people at their work, they represent peoples lives and how they live and what they do. It gives a picture of the personal part of someone’s life, and almost gives us a window to understand people in a different way then just what is on the surface and what we can see first hand.

Typology –

Typology is basically a fancy word for a group of photos or a certain ‘photoshoot’ that are all themed together that give the same ‘feel’ or ‘idea’.

Some environmental portraits are also typologies, taken in a similar way. The photos all have similarities even though they are completely different and show different people and lives in completely different ways.