what is environmental portraits?

an environmental portrait is when the object of the photo is placed in an area that you would associate it with (footballer at a football pitch etc).

mood board:

mind map:

photo must have a distinct subject that matches its background

props can be useful to help paint the picture

location of photo (inside or outside etc).

more than one person can help create more emotion in a photo

Artist study-August Sanders:

“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

Introduction:

where was he born? August Sanders was born in Herdof Germany. he grew up having an interest in photography after his uncle bought him camera and he met some photographer who helped spark his interest in photography.

august sanders took photos of people all over Germany, even though they didn’t consist much emotion if not none from the subject but could still paint a story of what the person does or is. he did this from the early 1900s all the way up until 1964 where he would pass away he created a portfolio called “people of the 20th century” his photos helped document the change and growth in society and the differences in social classes.

august sanders helped to document changes in one of the most dominant army’s in history (the uniform and the environment of the soldiers and commanders etc).

individual photo analysis–

this photo in my opinion helps us show what August Sanders really wanted to capture in all his photos in this genre

this photo shows that he liked to use quite an old fashioned large format camera that consisted of long exposure times, as in this photo it allows him to capture all the details not only in the person but everything around the person as well such as the little details in most of the bricks the floor where he is standing. this photo tells what environment this person worked as it seems to be quite messy but so precise as his surroundings are quite dirty (floor, stain on the wall etc) and the the preciseness of how the bricks must be laid out. so to conclude this photo really portrays what this persons work life is like in multiple different ways.

all of this really helps us show what life was like in the 20th century as he is essentially creating a piece of history.

other examples

obviously after having such an influence in photography multiple people have tried to replicate his work with a modern twist it and these are some examples: