“If we can create portraits of subjects that are true, we thereby in effect create a mirror of the times.”

August Sander was a famous German photographer, born in 1876 and sadly passed in 1964. His passion for photography began to grow when he was a teenager, and by his twenties he was operating his own portrait studio. Sander began his most famous project in the 1920s, named “People of the 20th Century”. This project includes over 600 photos divided into 7 volumes and nearly 50 portfolios. The majority of Sander’s images in this project are in black and white, reflecting the time he was taking portraits. This is also attractive to modern viewers because it shows us what times were likes in the 1920s, which makes us feel closer to the photographer.

Sander captured this image in black and white like all of his other photos. However this one stood out from the rest to me because of the emotion on the man’s face as he is the subject of the image. He is displaying a face of exhaustion, which makes me feel sympathetic towards him. This implies that maybe he does not feel passionate towards his job, and could portray the difficult times in the 1920s. I noticed the background of this image was plain and dull, which could also imply that there is nothing exciting about his job, which again tells us he is miserable. This makes me question why Sander took this photo, and perhaps he is trying to pass a message through it.

This is another image taken by August Sander in 1926. I chose to analyse this image because it differs from the one above in terms of emotion. In this photo, the emotion on the craftsmans face shows more anger, and portrays more dominance than the previous. The subject’s facial expression is one of frustration, and shows us he maybe dislikes his profession also. The subject of the photograph is also centred, which I have noticed is a common theme in Sander’s work. The background is again dull, which contrasts well with the subject making him stand out more. This makes it easy for the viewer to focus on the subject’s emotions. The use of the man holding a prop for the photo also allows us to make the connection between the subject and his job. I think this image creates an emotional response through his body language and facial expressions by the way he is staring into the camera with an intimidating manner.