The idea for the photoshoot was to take inspired photographs of a subject in their natural environment and/or a place of work they are associated with. Places I looked at for possible locations were general high streets shops, markets, and a less packed place, the beach. Other places could include e.g. butchery, hospitals, governmental areas, banks, etc. Lightning that will be needed with generally need to be daylight as most of the photographs have direct light coming through in the place of work and lightening on the ceiling of the environment.
In terms of what the subject in the environmental portrait would wear would be whatever the place of work wardrobe would dress. I look at differentiation for example one individual would wear all black with a name tag whereas another could wear a pale-like apron with a white chef hat.
The inspiration behind myself taking a photoshoot on environmental portraits is looking at other artists and photographers taking similar themed ideologies such as Arnold Newman, Jimmy Nelson (portraiture of tribal & indigenous people), and Paul Strand.
For the shoot, I want to try and capture people feeling happy and positive in their place of environment/work. I feel like it’ll give the photographs a positive perspective and outcome therefore I believe it’s important to think about this idea of the theme of moods.
The environment added to the narrative of the subjects by presenting what type of atmosphere they spend their time in and how they live daily life. The portrait is of people, strangers, family and friends. I believe that photographing strangers can be even more beautiful and interesting to add as there is this element of discomfort and life to bear finding out about one life and how they spend the majority of their life in a certain place important to them and how they progress.
Above I have displayed the rest of my contact sheet of my own response to environmental portraiture. I believe the photoshoots overall went well, my response to taking photographs of individuals in their area/environment turned out well and I believe that my photographs present it well as there are some individuals having tools and the wardrobe of a worker in that particular work field e.g. cleaner, cheese maker, cashier etc.
I have edited some of my best photography photos out of the contact sheet and they are displayed below.
Presented below are edited photographs without image diagnosis:
Arnold Newman was an American photographer widely known for his “environmental portraiture”. Arnold’s journey began his photography career in 1938 “working at chain portrait studios in Philadelphia, Baltimore and West Palm Beach” (https://arnoldnewman.com/biography.html). Afterwards he immediately “began working in abstract and documentary photography on his own”. With his way of environmental portraiture later on, he placed his sitter representatives of their professions. In his photographic work, he was partially influenced by Flemish Painters. He had mentioned as well that the work of the Cubists, including Picasso had influenced the way that he structured a photograph. Newman was known to use a range of lighting techniques to create “the desired mood” and atmosphere in his portraiture. Arnold’s skills played a part in his use of natural light as well as studio lighting setups. They helped him balance between “the subject and their environment”. In his photographic work, he used a 35mm SLR camera where “additional freedom” was an advantage.
What sparked my interest was when I saw that Arnold was not only a photographer but an author as well, publishing many books throughout the decades. His work has been recognised and profiled in international and domestic magazines. He grabbed the attention of well-known commercial & advertising clients such as Ford, Canon, Eastman Kodak and Polaroid etc.
Emotional Aspect-
Intimidated
A quite a dark atmosphere/ same as the subject
Quite firm and threatening
Alarming and questionable
Feeling uneasy
Visual Aspect-
Can see a late 50 middle-aged/60-year-old white male at the bottom centre of the photograph with his hands locked together in a fist resting underneath his chin.
The middle-aged man may be working in an abandoned and dark factory, maybe a railway/train production factory centre/ place of work.
Technical Aspect-
The lighting may be centred specifically so that the eyelids and central facial features are darkened making the subject of the photograph look a bit sinister and uncomfortable to look at as he is looking directly at the audience therefore making us want to look away.
Conceptual Aspect-
The concept of the photo portrait is that Arnold takes a photograph of a convicted Nazi criminal, who supplied the German government with materials (being a personal supplier). At first, he refused but “eventually, decided to take the assignment as a form of personal revenge” (Newman being a Jewish Photographer) https://aboutphotography.blog/blog/story-of-alfred-krupps-portrait-by-arnold-newman
Contextual Aspect-
“The Jewish American photographer saw the convicted (and later pardoned) war criminal as the devil and wanted to put a knife in his back.”
Arnold “did the iconographic image of Marilyn Monroe, which is a signed photo (used for the Louisiana MoMA poster, signed, too), while the images of Carl Sandburg and Marilyn Monroe are vintage prints”. These photographs were made for an exhibition created by Peri Alcaide. Peri was very active in the film industry from the 1950s. She was a member of the Screen Actors Guild and worked to raise awareness of art and photographic memorabilia from Hollywood. In the late 1960s/ early 1970s, she created the exhibition of Marilyn Monroe.
The photograph of the two, taken in Carl’s home in Flat Rock North Carolina, presents Marylin Monroe having her head tilted to the lift and sitting on a couch, she faces Carl (famed novelist and poet). It is where Marylin gathered “information for a magazine article she was writing about the poet “. Looking from an emotional perspective at the photograph the chemistry between the two recognised individuals can be presented clearly as they both share an intimate glance. Arnold Newman shows the contrast between Marylin’s famous sultry and glamorous public persona and Carl’s more serious and intellectual image and how that is softened and differentiated in the photograph. Newman creates that emotional response by putting two individuals with different outlooks and backgrounds into one showing vulnerability and presenting both individuals underneath one theme, being on the same level (can be status-wise).
Looking for a visual perspective, I can see two recognisable people looking directly at each other with a clear glass (potentially a martini) in both their hands. It is hard to consider what lighting is reflected onto both of the subjects but the light features of the individuals are highlighted lightly potentially showing the natural light peeking through. The textures of the photograph are clear to understand and look at, it’s quite soft.
Carl is wearing a fur coat, presenting the difference in textures of clothing to Marylin, where she is clothed in a smooth fabric status higher/ above than Carl potentially presenting her popularity level at the time when the photograph was taken. The type of backdrop that I can see somewhat resembles a living room, a place of comfort as the two subjects appear to be sitting in the centre of the photograph with paintings presented on the walls and a teapot behind on a table.
The technical aspect of the photograph was that the focus was on both subjects as they are the centre and focus of attention for the viewer. If you were to take the rule of thirds into perspective, the viewer can recognise that the photographer intentionally placed the subject in the middle and centre column.
In the photograph, taken in 1956, Pablo Picasso is captured through the lens, he is seated on a chair in a large room filled with both finished and unfinished artworks. Picasso is dressed in casual attire (he appears to have wearing his house slippers). Arnold Newman catches him in his “natural environment”. The photograph is looked back on as a memorable image that has become ” an iconic representation of his artwork and his legacy”.
Looking at the photograph from an emotional perspective, the photograph makes me feel a bit intimidated and interested as the subject in the centre seems to be dominating as they are seated in a somewhat relaxed and focused position. The photographer created this emotional response to show how much control and status the subject has over the room and everything in it. The fact that the paintings, whether finished or not, are behind him presents the clear division and backstory of the subject himself, his skills and character can be translated onto his work therefore it is presented in opposition to the subject in the centre.
Looking at the photograph from a visual perspective, I can see the photograph in a black-and-white colour scheme. I can see an individual with arms crossed and hunched over a bit forward not looking directly but looking to the left on the photograph, this can mean the viewer feels more calm and less intimidated to look at the subject as they aren’t making eye-to-eye contact.
Looking at the photograph from a technical perspective, I can see the photograph has natural light appearing from the right of the photograph. Half of the face of Picasso is covered from the shadows, contrasting the features on his face.
Environmental Portraiture is a photographed portrait that captures a subject/s in its natural surroundings instead of in a studio or other artificial background setup. These ‘environmental portraits’ can be used to tell a story behind an individual’s place of work, personal history, and daily life especially someone’s connection to a certain place and being able to tell a story through the art of taking a photograph. Environmental Portraiture may reveal about a person their work conditions/ how their environment may impact their daily life (if they look upset/ way they are positioned and the individuals status may present how they feel)
What is a typology in photography?
Typology in photography is a single photograph or more commonly a body of photographic work that has a high level of consistency. Usually found within the subjects, environment and direction of the subject.
Typology can link to Environmental Portraiture as both topics discuss different aspects of change/ nature. Environmental Portraiture shows a collection of numerous characters and careers and contrasts between them, as well as typology presenting changes and contrast in a collage of multiple photographs.
I selected my top 3 photographs presented on the virtual gallery above. I added a layer style –> stoke and layered the outside area of the photograph similarly to a frame.
On this specific website called “artsteps” I experimented with putting up my favorite photographs up on the 3D wall presenting them how I would if it were a real art gallery.
These are the photos I am going to edit for Environmental Portraits because I believe that they are the best photos to show natural environment, especially in a school that provides a wide variety of opportunities for students.
Editing ( photo 1 ) –
For this photo, I want to show the reality of work for students, the rawness of students learning and growing, through my photo. I am going to raise the clarity on this photo to make it more clear to show details and smaller aspects the viewer might have missed. Still focusing on highlights, I am going to experiment with the shadows that could be brought into this photo.
The edits for this photo went really well. I was able to bring the saturation and vibrancy back into the photo while still keeping the shadows and contrast high enough. The realism is also prominent in the photo as you can see the details and small increments you may have missed before.
If I was to do anything different, I would have controlled the shadows a little bit more so that the photo did not have such a dark area to it around the bottom right corner .
For my last edit I wanted to try out the black and white idea again. I feel like its given the photo an almost vintage feeling to it, which I think fits the photo quite well considering the man is a DJ which reminds me of older generations quite a lot.
If I was to re do this edit, I would change the fact that the colour has no impact on the photo. I personally feel that colour brings a lot to a photo and the lack of it makes the photo look slightly dull.
Editing ( photo 2 ) –
For this photo, I’m leaning towards a 50s vibe for the editing style. I want to enhance the clarity but dampen the colour of the photo to give it some originality from some of my other photos.
In this edit, I decided to change the lighting a little bit, making it a warmer looking light instead of a colder light to give the photo a bit more life. I gave the photo more clarity just to enhance details in the photo and so the the model in the photo was more flattered.
If I were to re do this edit, I would defiantly do something a bit more drastic with the colour, something with increasing the vibrancy significantly to give the photo an original spin.
For all of my pictures i kept the editing the same, i decreased the saturation to -100 because i wanted to transform it into black and white to show the inspiration from the artist Vanessa Winship.
Here is the final outcomes for all my pictures that were edited by decreasing the saturation to -100.
experimentation
whilst editing these pictures i decided to experiment with diverse ways of desaturating the picture into black and white using the develop segment of lightroom.
first experiment:
For this picture I decided that I wanted to decrease the whites (-100) to make the colour in the picture look a lot warmer to produce a more smoother black and white picture, blacks (-32) to make the picture darker and saturation (-100) to take all of the colour off of the picture. I increased the clarity (+30) to make the picture more clear and Dehaze (+100) to amplify colour and contrast where the photo appeared a little ‘washed out’. I liked the way this picture was edited but it was too dark for me.
second experiment:
For this picture I decreased, highlights (-89) to recover lost detail and darken the lighter parts of picture, shadows (-39) to make the picture darker, whites (-61) to make picture look warmer, blacks (-39) to make picture even darker and saturation (-100) to completely take the colour from the picture. I increased texture (+37)to add visual interest and clarity (+47) to make the image much more clearer. This picture was slightly lighter than the picture above but I didn’t like how pixilated the picture continued to be and how blurry it was even after adding clarity and interest.
Third/ last experiment:
For this final picture experiment I decreased highlights (-100) to recover lost details, shadows (-70) to make picture darker, whites (-56) to make picture look warmer, blacks (-26) to make picture darker and saturation (-100) to remove any colour from the picture. This picture turned out too grey. i also didn’t like how dark the persons face became and how little shadows are present in the picture therefore i didn’t like the finish product of this picture.
An environmental portrait is a portrait executed in the subject’s usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject’s life and surroundings. The term is most frequently used of a genre of photography
Here I went round my school to take some photos of Environmental portraits, I made the photos black and white to recreate Alys Tomlinson photos she had created herself, having photos in black and white really changes the perspective of the photo as it could change the tone and mood of each photo, normally when I see a black and white photo I feel quite low and down however it could suggest that the photograph is modern, or even old as they didn’t have coloured photos back in the day, these little details change so much about the photograph and makes the viewer want to explore so much more about what this photo could actually mean, and what it represents.
Here I went round school and took photos of students and teachers to get a perspective of what they do during the day and to get a different environment behind each model. I chose to take pictures around my school as there are any different people inside of a school, For example I could take pictures of the canteen staff as they would be in a kitchen and wearing different clothes. However taking pictures of students would be slightly different as half of the students are wearing their own clothes which makes it slightly difficult to identify that they are students but we do know that they are young people. I also went to the science lab and took pictures of some of the technicians around the science rooms to show the chemicals and the different equipment they use. This helped me to identify that different people go to different surroundings each day to do different things they may enjoy or not. The pictures that i took of the students were mainly of them walking around school or sat down however if I were to recreate this I would have a student sat at a desk with a text book in front of them to really show that the are studying and engaging in school although students don’t just study at school we also explore friendships and many different things.
This is my final outcome I haven’t included any photos from my original shoot as I wanted a small selection of the best few shots which happened to be three photos from the second shoot. I chose to contrast the dark and blue tones of the photos with brown wooden frames to also make sure the photos don’t feel too flat on the wall. I placed the two landscape shots next to each other and the portrait one on a wall by itself as the photo is busier with it being a closer cropped shot I didn’t want it to take attention away from the landscape shots.
Comparison to August Sanders Work
These two images in particular and interesting to compare, as they are very ear appropriate with Sander’s work featuring old fashioned bicycles in full suits and my photo which is a motorbike and motorbike jacket and boots. A large part of Sander’s style is having the model have a blank facial expression, which similarly I have asked the model to do in my photo. I also used the same framing ideas while I only had one model which is more common in environmental portraits but I kept to using the rule of thirds and keeping the subject in the middle ground in the depth of field. Something unusual for portrait work is keeping the background in full focus around the subject however due to the style it is very common to and like Sander’s work I kept a slightly cropped out background look to focus in on the subject. Unlike Sanders work I chose to keep my shots in colour as while it was a choice Sander made as colour cameras were common at the time I felt it would take away from the image unless it was a high contrast version but even then I would rather use the colours in the photo to my advantage and help tell the story in the photo and help describe the subject.
Final Image Analysis
This is my favourite image of this project. It’s a particularly strong image compositionally. For example I place the model under the point of the arch as when looking at the photo the first thing that draws your attention is the motorbike and then the castle ruins, by placing the model in the middle of the two I have not only used the rule of thirds to my advantage I have also put the model in natural eyeline when looking between the two major parts of the image. Continuing from this I have used the rocks on the right of the frame to add depth to the image, however by having the rocks out of focus it removes any of the rough texture that could distract from the subject. I chose to use this location because it is very representative of the models hobbies and due to the nature of it and the props used (his motorbike) it is obvious to the viewer what the models interests are and it’s not too complicated to work out some context to the image and learn about the person which is the intention of environmental portraits. By lightening the granite I have pulled out the grey and pink tones, typical in Jersey granite, without making the texture too smooth for the rough rock. To contrast this I darkened the black plastics and jacket to make the subject stand out against the blue sky background framed by the granite.
For my Environmental Portraits my main inspiration were on the Photographers: August Sander and Alec Soth.
Comparison –
Inspired by Sanders use of full body shots I aimed for that effect in some of my photos.
Sander can also be seen to use a low F-stop on his camera, this creates a blurred back ground effect, highlighting the features of the subject. In the photos of my dad, I aimed to try and mimic that.
Seeing how Alec Soth had his subjects hold props in some photos I tried to replicate that when me and my friends played airsoft.
With the one of the key features of this project being to capture a story within a photo, I looked at some of Karen Knorr’s photographs where she had taken photos of someone in a military uniform.
Seeing how I am apart of the Air Cadets and my dad had a career In the army I had my own attempt at her genre.
Evaluation –
To improve my photos I will play around with the settings some more to create other desired outcomes in my photos. I believe I could improve on how I manage the exposure as some of my photos came out either to dark or too bright, which wasn’t what I wanted.
Overall, I think I created some good final outcomes that can be seen to fit the Genre of Environmental Portraits.
