Henry Mullins moved to Jersey in 1848, where he set up his studio in the Royal Square known as the Royal Saloon. His photography was represented in Societe Jersiase Photo-Archive, producing over 9000 portraits of islanders from 1852 to 1873.

His work was placed in various albums during the 19th century, showing individual faces and bodies of the first generation of islanders, in which he would place his clients in order of social hierachery. He would photograph Jersey Political elite, mercantile families, military officers and professional classes.

He used carte de visite to print his portraits, which was a small print called albumen print that was then sealed by egg whites, bind together with the photographic chemicals on the paper. These prints were affordable and common to many islanders, which were traded among friends and visitors, while albums and cards were also featured in Victorian parlours, during the 1860s. The portraits became very popular, which lead to the publication of portraits featuring famous people.

The four headshots Mullins captured are put together and presented in a Dimond Cameo which is a process where four separate portraits of the same subject are printed on a carte de visite.

Chiaroscuro is a high contrast lighting technique, creating contrast between the subject and a dark background. Chiaroscuro portraits first came about during the 15th century, then continued to develop during the 16th century. The dark subjects were lighted by a small source of light, that illuminated parts of the subject, which overall achieved the contrast between light and dark. To create this effect a single light is used to create the brighter effect on the subject, but also stands out from the contrasting dark background.

Chiaroscuro is traditionally used in the film industry, typically to describe Hollywood crime dramas. It was used because it created this interesting and dramatic effect in the photo, which would help engage the viewer creating this meaningful story behind the photo.

Rembrandt lighting, named after Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, is a type of lighting used in photography that lights up the face creating an upside-down light triangle under the eyes of the subject. The light triangle will draw the viewers attention in, this is because of the contrast between the light and dark.

Rembrandt lighting is effective because it creates interesting and attractive depth in the photo. The leading lines created by the upside-down triangle under the eye, helps emphasise and create a dramatic effect in the portrait, making your attention draw closely in on the subject.

To create this effect you can use either flash or continuous light, that is placed slightly above the subject. This illuminates the subjects face, creating a triangle underneath the eyes, and shadow.

My Photos:

The last two photos are my best because they both show a really clear triangle under the eye, that is emphasised on darker side of the face, by the light shining from the opposite side.

Butterfly lighting is a technique where the light source is placed directly above at an angle and slightly in front of the subjects face, this then creates a butterfly-shaped shadow under the nose. Also called paramount lighting, it is often used to photograph some of the famous Hollywood stars as well as in fashion photography, making it commonly well known for defining the subjects cheek bones making the subject look thinner and eyes look bigger.

Butterfly lighting can be achieved by either using flash lights or continuous light, if continuous is can be natural or artificial, meaning using LEDs or strobe lights. To create the butterfly effect you use can use reflectors which reflect the light back, which creates the butterfly shadow.

Photoshoot Plan:

• For this photoshoot I am going to visit the florists in the market, I want capture them with a bouquet or organising one because I think this will overall give a really engaging photo because the viewer can see what they are doing as well as creating an engaging and attractive effect, with various focal points for the viewer.

• I am going to experiment capturing the subject from different positions such as at an angle, straight on, and below eye level, as this will create different effects that will engage the viewer in different ways.

• I want them to hold the bouquet or have the flowers laid in front, because I want the flowers to be part of the photo creating different focal points.

Contact Sheet:

The flowers themself create really eye catching shapes and tones, but I also thought capturing the florist organising bouquets of flowers whilst preparing them would overall create a really interesting and aesthetic photo that would draw your focus towards. I have put an ‘x’ next to the photos, which were my least favourite and my favourites are show below:

My Photos:

Favourite images:

This photo has a shallow depth of field, as I wanted the florist to be the main focus and stand out. I like how the florist is the central focus as you notice it straight away, then leading lines are created directing your eyes down towards the flowers, creating this visual story of what she is doing. I captured this photo in the natural light, then using Lightroom to experiment with different exposure levels and tones.

For this photo, I captured the florist at an angle, and looking up towards her. This allowed me to include more of the flowers which I thought would be a really interesting and engaging part of the photo. I wanted to capture the florist with the flowers laid out in front of her because this makes it very eye catching and engaging for the viewer. This angle, creates leading lines upwards towards the centre giving the main focal point. You firstly notice the subject then your eyes are moved down towards the flowers, creating another focal point.

Arnold Newman was generally known as the pioneer of environmental portrait, while also being known for his still life and abstract photography. He is considered as one of the most influential photographers in the 20th century. Newman’s environmental approach to portraiture was greatly influenced by impressionism and symbolism, which attracts the viewer no matter how well we know what the focus is.

Arnold Newman became well know for his distinctive approach to portraiture, where he would capture the person/ subject in their job or their natural surroundings. He didn’t ask the person to pose in a studio or in a particular way, instead he took a more realistic approach which told an insightful story of their life. Newman wanted to create depth and composition in his portraits, so he had equipment set up in a particular way, possible poses, and a floor plan ideas as he really wanted to show the relation between the person and their natural surroundings. This engages the viewer, showing a story and connection.

The photo makes me really interested because I can see into his studio where he does his work. I think having the photo in black and white makes you look closer into the background filled with his paintings, as from a distance all you can see if unique shapes filled with tones and shades that blend together creating this chaotic, but engaging scene to look at. I think having him sat in an informal position at the bottom right, with not much facial expression, makes him blend in almost with his studio behind, creating this feeling that Newman didn’t just want to make the portrait purely of Picasso. Instead he wanted to engage the viewer from a different perspective, which I think is what makes the environmental portrait of him more engaging, because it makes us wonder what he is doing, creating lots of focal points for the viewer.

The photo looks like it is captured in the natural light, that brightens up various parts of the portrait which I think makes it more effective because it shows it, in that moment. This emphasizes parts creating soft and intricate textures in his studio, leading your eye closer into the photo.

Newman has captured Marilyn Monroe and Carl Sandburg sat in his flat. The piece is know for the composition where they are sat glancing at one another, engaging with the camera from a different perspective. Also, the photo captures Monroe’s more glamorous, and public persona, whereas Sandburg is more serious, and is sat more naturally. Newman may have decided to do this to show the contrast between their personalities, which is expressed in a clear way to the viewer. I like how the photo is taken close up which creates an abstract portrait, leading your eye straight to the subjects. As the viewer, I think we engage more with the photo from a side angle, as it makes you look closer because we want to find out their expressions. The lighter areas are around the face which makes you focus on that area more, noticing subtle, soft tones which enhances these areas more, creating a short but engaging depth.

Environmental Portraits depict people in their working environments or environments they are associated with.

They are portraits which are taken in the subjects natural surroundings, such as their home or workplace, that illuminates the subjects life and surroundings.

I think the portraits are unique and interesting, because they aren’t photographed in a studio, they are in the subjects particular environment, which relates to the person. Also, they engage the viewer creating a meaningful story behind the photo as we learn something about them.

Contact sheet for my photoshoot inspired by Walker Evans, I have highlighted my favourite photos in green.

For this photoshoot, I experimented using more than one of the same objects. Overall, I thought this created an interesting photograph when captured at different angles because it gives a 3 dimensional view, rather than photographing from a birds eye view which gives a 2 dimensional effect – this was what William Eggleston did. He captured his photographs from one angle as this was done to get your direct focus solely on the object, however I wanted to achieve this from different angles and with a few objects. This overall effect created a really interesting photo to look at, as it created a unique look. For each photo below, the first ones I haven’t edited whereas the second ones I have. I thought they didn’t need much editing as I had experimented using different light, which gave the right warmth and contrast of tones that I wanted. However, I still edited most as I wanted to make them more clearer and highlight each individual object making them bolder. This also enhanced the detail on the brushes making a bolder look.

I didn’t edit this photo as I already preferred the look it gave. I thought the way I positioned the objects made it a really effective photo as creates an interesting look leading your eye into different parts of the photo, as it draws you in, in from many angles.

Here I have highlighted my favourite and best photos in green as I thought these images showed a clear photograph of the object. Inspired by Walker Evans, I turned each of the photos in black and white which are shown on the left I showed the before and after photos so you could see the different effects.

Overall, I thought these photographs were really effective, as I thought having only one object really made you focus on the photo. Some of the photographs where I left in colour showed more shadows which showed more of a contrast, so using light-room I lightened them up to create more brighter images. Like Walker Evans, I kept some negative space around my object, but I also wanted the closer look of the object so you would have a clearer view of the object.

I was inspired by Walker Evan’s to create single object photos, from birds eye view as this achieved the same effect as Evan’s created in his own work. I really like how his work is simple but effective, as the single objects makes you focus on the details and tones created.