An environmental portrait is a portrait taken of a subject depicting them in their usual environment, for example, their home or workplace. This typically gives insight to the subject’s surroundings and life.
Environmental portraits aim to portray a real, authentic representation of the subject being photographed by including parts of their daily life such as their home, surroundings, place of interest, their workplace, and more. These photographs require planning, as to make the composition represent and capture the subject honestly within a setting which reflects the subject’s usual environment which holds meaning and a story. Aspects of the subjects being photographed shine through in this type of photography, giving insight on their life and personality, they can include one or more subject in them. They are different from studio portraits which usually have simpler backgrounds and compositions, usually comprised of a plain background to focus more on the subject, and less on their life.
For this photo shoot, I am wanting to photograph people in there working environments or in their natural setting like a home. I am planning to get some photos of my family members in my house as this is their natural setting and where they spend the most time. The people who I take photos of who are in their work environment will be taken as random. I will ask these people permission to do this. I also have an advantage in working in a work place myself so I will be able to capture photos of my work colleagues. as well as this, I have friends who work who will be happy for me to take a photo of them.
Where?
The places I am focussing on taking my photos in are my house and the stores in the market. I think the market is a good place to target as it’ll give me a range of retail businesses and a lot of the workers are proud of their profession so would be willing to be apart of a photo to show off their workplace. The places I will also go which are not the market will be my friends workplaces such as the bakery, the garden centre and De Gruchy. Taking photos in my house will also be a very obvious place as it is a natural setting for all of my family members.
Why
I am doing this to show the various different professions people have and be able to capture it in a photograph
How
I am most likely going to be taking these photo so my phone as it is more easier to carry around to various places. However, i also have a camera I am borrowing so I will still be able to get some photos using this. this is good because it will capture better quality photos and will also show the subject I am photographing that i am being genuine by saying it is for my photography work
What do I want the person I am photographing to do?
It would be ideal if my subject would be able to look at the camera when I am photographing them as this is what environmental portraits involves. however, I can understand if they do not want to do that as it is their decision.
Arnold Newman (1918-2006) was an American photographer known for his environmental portraits of artists and politicians. He was also known for his carefully composed abstract still-life images. With his method of portraiture, he placed his sitters in surroundings represented of their professions , aiming to capture the essence of the individuals life and their work. Arnold Newman is widely known for pioneering and popularizing environmental portraits.
About him
Arnold Newman was born March 3rd 1918, in New York City. He studied art under a scholarship at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL from 1936 to 1938. In June of 1941, Beaumont Newhall of the Museum of Modern Art and Alfred Stieglitz “discovered” him, and he was given an exhibit with Ben Rose at the A.D. Gallery in September. There he began working on experimental portraiture. He then returned home to Miami Beach, but once he was well established, he moved to New York in 1946 and opened his studio and became a member of the American Society of Magazine Photographers. Newman’s new approach to portraiture began its influence through key publications in America and abroad. Exhibits and purchases of his work by major museums quickly followed. In 1949, he married Augusta Rubenstein, and they had two sons, Eric, born 1950, and David, 1952. He died in New York City on June 6, 2006 and his wife died in 2009.
Who inspired him?
Arnold Newman stated that he was particularly inspired by Flemish painters. However, he also mentioned the work of Cubists including Picasso, who influenced the way Arnold Newman structured his photographs.
His work
This image shows us into the life of Pablo Picasso, who is the man in this photograph. Pablo Picasso is a famous artist, who painted and made art pieces. In this photograph he is surrounded by all his work, which suggests this is his studio. However, the rocking chair in this photograph also suggests that this is his living area and his home.
This image is in black and white, which most of Arnold Newman’s pictures were. This helped to add more contrast to the photo, because it had lots of light and dark tones throughout the photo. The black and white also helped to create more texture in the photograph, especially in Picasso’s art pieces and canvas painting. The viewpoint of this photo is Picasso, who is in the centre of the photo. Him being in the centre in the composition presents him as the viewpoint, as it is leading out eye towards him. The position Picasso is sat in on his chair, with him leaning forward, leaning on his arms and sat with his legs spread either side of the chair suggests that Picasso is not a very serious person and he has a sense of fun about him. However, Him leaning forward on his chair and leaning of his arms with him in the centre of the room suggests that he owns this room and is proud of everything in it. This photo has natural lighting coming from the side window, but also uses indoor lighting as the photo was taken indoors. This has low light sensitivity as the image is not grainy.
This is a famous photograph of Arnold Newman’s, which was published in The New York Times. This picture contains two people, who are Marylin Monroe and Carl Sandburg, who are pictured in their natural environment, and doing things, which are natural to them, like having an alcoholic drink.
This photo is in black and white, with lots of black and white tones like most of Arnold Newman’s photos. The layout of this photo is the two individuals in the centre of the photo, which then makes them the viewpoint of this photo. The background of this photo suggests that this is their living space or an environment that is natural to them, like a hotel, which they are in often. Marylin Monroe is a famous singer and Carl Sandburg is a famous poet, so him and Marylin tend to stay in hotels often, which is why this photo was set in a hotel room. Marylin Monroe and Carl Sandburg were in a relationship with each other, which makes this environment more natural to them as they are very often together. The photo was taken indoors, so we can interoperate that the lighting of the photo was not natural lighting and a flash was used, or indoor lighting.
The individual, who is the viewpoint in this photograph, is Alfried Krupp, who was an industrialist, who used slave labour. Arnold Newman at first refused to take his photo, as he did not agree with how he did things, but after some time Arnold Newman agreed to photograph him, because he saw this as an opportunity. Alfried Krupp hated this photo and wanted Arnold Newman to delete it, but he didn’t and instead used it as a way to share the unmoral things Alfried Krupp was doing.
The background of this image is Alfried Krupp’s industrial factory, so this environment was natural to him. This photo is one of the few portraits that Arnold Newman took, that wasn’t in black and white, but instead it has a green tint to it, which is caused by the lighting used, as this photo uses quite dim lighting. This makes the photo look more scary and sinister. The individual is posed leaning forward onto his hands, while glaring, which causes him to look really sinister. Arnold Newman used this pose to make Alfried Krupp look really sinister to the viewers, so they would know, that he was a sinister individual in every day life. This photo caused society to learn the real truth about Alfried Krupp and about his industrial business, and it was all because of how Arnold Newman positioned him, the lighting, the background and how he refused to delete the picture when Krupp wanted him to , but instead posted it in the New York Times.
Arnold Newman was an American photographer who was well known for his environmental portraits of artists and politicians. He was also known for his abstract still life images. Newman was born in 1918 and died in 2006. His career in photography began in 1938, in which he worked at chain portrait studios in Philadelphia. The majority of his work is black and white but he does have some images in colour.
Arnold Newman favoured prime lenses and clarity in his images. He was also known for his range of lighting techniques in order to create the tone and atmosphere he desired in his portraits. His advanced skills in using natural lighting and studio setups, helped him to achieve a balance between the subject and their environments. Arnold Newman was less interested in the details of the subject’s surroundings and more interested in the symbols he could create from them.
Throughout his career, Arnold Newman photographed a variety of different famous people. For example: Eleanor Roosevelt, Pablo Picasso, Frank Lloyd Wright, Golda Meir, Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe, Salvador Dalí, and the former president Bill Clinton. He found his vision in the empathy he felt for artists and their work. Arnold Newman maintained the mindset that even if the subject he photographed was not known or already forgotten, the photograph should still excite and interest the viewer.
One of Arnold Newman’s well known pictures was the one of Igor Stravinsky in which the lid of his grand piano forms a gargantuan musical note representative of the melodic structure of the composer’s work, showing Arnold’s excellence in being able to carefully compose and frame an image to allow the subject’s surrounding to give us an insight into that person’s life, culture or personality. Arnold generally used a large-format camera and tripod in order to capture every detail in a setting/ environment.
“I didn’t just want to make a photograph with some things in the background. The surroundings had to add to the composition and the understanding of the person. No matter who the subject was, it had to be an interesting photograph. Just to simply do a portrait of a famous person doesn’t mean a thing.” -Arnold Newman.
Arnold Newman was said to be influenced by Flemish painters. Additionally, the work of the Cubists, including Picasso, also influenced the way he structured a photograph.
Arnold Newman’s Environmental Portraits:
I enjoyed looking at Arnold Newman’s work as I felt as if I almost had been able to make up a whole backstory about each person purely based off of their facial expressions and environment they were in, which is what a successful environmental portrait should be able to do. I also like the fact that there is no one in the background of the pictures even in places that you would normally expect to be busy. This made my attention be purely on the subject being photographed. Finally, I like how even when Arnold Newman’s pictures are in black and white, they still manage to captivate his audience and allow for such free creativity as you try and guess what the person in the photo’s life is like.
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. These surroundings often help us to get an insight into that person’s life, culture and status. In most environmental portraits, the subject is staring directly into the camera creating a more personal and intimate image between the viewer and the model.
From looking at these images, I have noticed that generally in the black and white pictures there is more of a sad, melancholy expression on the people’s faces. Whereas, in the coloured images the people seem to look happier and proud of their environment/ profession. This creates more of a positive tone around the images compared to the black and white ones which make me feel more sympathy towards them rather than joy.
Typology is a body of work with a consistent style. Often portrayed in many different forms, some being in a structured group with equal spacing in-between or a particular style in general like the style of environmental portraits. Environmental portraits are often associated with the style of typology as they are always structed images with the same idea of the subject looking into the camera and often centred.
Typology definition: a suite of images or related forms, shot in a consistent, repetitive manner; to be fully understood, the images must be viewed as a complete series.
August Sanders is a famous photographer who actually started by working in a mine and then working as an assistant for a photographer called Siegen who was also working in the mine at the same time. As he progressed who brought his own equipment and set up his own darkroom before his military service 1897-1899. After his service he started working for Photographische Kunstanstalt in Hungry before becoming a partner then later becoming the sole owner of the company. Later on he left the company and set up a new studio at Durener Strasse. His most famous work began in 1911 when he did his first series of portraits for his work, he aimed to show the differences in society during the Weimar Republic. He then divided the shoot into seven sections ranging from different professions, different classes to homeless people and veterans. Continuing his career he travelled to Sardinia for three months, while he took around 500 photos however he did not write his planned book on his travels. His most famous work continued when his ‘People of our time’ was published, this was a series of 60 photos aiming to describe and show the people of the 20th century. However sadly under Nazi regime his photography plates were seized and destroyed, along with later on his studio being bombed and the a fire wrecking what was left of his work. After the war in 1953 Sander sold 408 photographs of Cologne taken between 1929 and 1939, later on in 1988 they were published in book format, under the title Koln Wie Es War (Cologne as it was). His work has continued to be influential even now inspiring people with his environmental portraiture.
Beggar, 1926 – August Sanders
This is one of my favourite pieces of August Sanders work; just after the end of WW1 he captured a shot of a beggar on the streets. Many people were left without a home and or without an income leaving many people on the street after the devastating effects of WW1.
Within the photo there is not much, however it appears busier than it is due to the lines and patterns. The man is sitting in the centre of the photo with a crutch underneath him and holding his hat out for change. The photo is in black and white as all of Sanders work is as Sander never updated his equipment with the times instead sticking to his original set up. It’s quite a saddening image as it is very solemn and while it is a fairly simple image in its composition it has a high emotional complexity to it. When you first glance at the photo, I didn’t notice the crutch or the hat I assumed it was someone resting or waiting for a train. However as you take a closer look at the shot it becomes clear what is really happening. Sanders used the lines in the natural surroundings to create a busy look to the photo. By having a ‘busy’ background in the photo and around the subject it reflects the subjects daily life of blending into a busy lifestyle of everyone else. The composition of the photo is quite interesting as it isn’t an overly wide angle so there isn’t much foreground or background to the shot but the subject is slightly off centred to the left and in the little foreground there is immediately drawing the viewers eye to him. Harsh lines are prominent throughout the shot as a whole from the wall edge creating a harsh line to the fencing creating repetition both offset by more lines however they are softer and lead to the subject again. Creating this juxtaposition of the harsh world around the subject and the softer, emotive side of the subject is still a person no matter what his circumstances. This is a great example of an environmental portrait by having the subject as the main focus of the photo, providing context about the person by having a common environment of theirs as the background. By having the subject wearing a blank expression it takes away from the falsities that can crop up in photos by wearing different expressions, this instead helps the people look deeper into the photo and understand the correlation between the subject and the surroundings. Sanders used all natural lighting in a majority of his work not only due to his camera set up but also due to his work being in the subject’s natural environment didn’t allow for easy lighting all the time, in this shot he has balanced the exposure well creating a balanced tonal image. What Sanders has done particularly well with this shot is capturing a 3D scene and transforming it into an emotive, dynamic 2D image. By using the shapes and lines available in the environment it has enhanced the final outcome creating depth in the shot and providing a small background and a feeling that the image extends onwards confusing off the edge of shot from the simple use of the wall further away from the subject.
This is another one of Sanders famous pieces of work, there is not much information available about this shot in-particular. However it is evident that it is a great example of Sanders environmental portrait style. This photo was taken after WW1 (1928) however the effects were still very present. The frame of the photo is mostly filled with the subject an in a white chefs jacket, boots and black trousers. He is holding a large metal bowl that has small patches of lighter grey where the light is reflecting off it. While the chef is holding a spoon in the bowl he is not moving it as it is an environmental portrait he is posed and still. It would be noticeable if he was moving at all due the the nature of Sander’s camera equipment there would be blurring to the image where the movement isn’t captured quick enough to remain clear. The background and foreground of the shot are a complete tonal contrast to the white coat being black with small speckles of white from the grout on the tiled floor to the labels on the above counter cupboards. Having the subject in his professional environment is a great way of capturing an environmental portrait as it would have been where the chef spent a lot of his life. There is a also a connection between our jobs and out personalities and lifestyle. The chef has a neutral expression on his face, however he does not seemed annoyed or put out by the photo instead looks proud. This allows for the photo to be perceived as the man is proud of his job, this could be for many reasons but a large part of this could be that he proud that he could, after the war being able to enjoy his passion again. The more technical side of the photo is that Sander’s has used the space around the chef to provide a stark tonal contrast from the dark background. This draws the viewer to the subject, the chef, and away from the surrounds. However the dark background also makes the viewer curious to what is in it, this gets them to start looking closer to the the subject and where they might be standing in correlation to what he is wearing and if he is holding anything. Following on from that the dark background also helps the image appear more 3D which is a great skill of Sanders work in creating a 3D scene into a 2D photo while keeping the photo form looking flat. Sanders has used the rule of thirds to put the subject in the centre to keep the focus on him. He has also used the lines on the floor to add depth to the photo and provide a feeling of foreground and background. He uses many lines throughout the photo not just the floor, he also has something with a sharp edge and harsh line just behind the soft, unfocused edge on the side of the shot. The photo is filled with smooth looking textures like the subjects jacket and the metal bowl, this reminds me of how pastry chefs work is neat and appears almost perfect when it comes to things like cakes with white icing. Contrasting this is the mess on the floor, this is a great way Sander’s has captured the neatness and how pristine the chefs have to be as well as there work but it is an environment that is not very forgiving.
I personally think that this image is one of my best Environmental Portraits because I think it is effective how his outfit fits the environment he is within and I also think that the photo is unique because it’s not very easy to get into the warehouse for the government vehicles. If I were to take this image again, I would potentially try and take in in another position so that you can see more of the warehouse, however, I was not allowed to get the number plates in the photos.
I also really like this photo because I think that the women’s character and appearance reflects the shop she is in and I also like how she is wearing her apron with the little badges as they suit the background.
Environmental portraiture is photos/portraits of someone in their environment so either someone is their work or maybe a hobby that they do a lot you want something that shows an aspect of who that person is.
You want your photos to tell a story the story behind the person in it. Try and revel/show parts of their lives. You’re not just telling the story through the background though you want your model to show parts of themselves like if the model looks sad it can show that they live a sad life in their eyes or aren’t happy with where they are in life
“You don’t take pictures with your camera. You take pictures with your mind and heart.” – Arnold Newman.
Arnold Newman was born on March 3rd 1918, and passed away on June 6th 2006 as an American photographer who was greatly known for his environmental portraits of mainly artists and politicians. He was also widely known for his still life images which were described as “abstract”.
Examples of his environmental portraiture:
Examples of his still life:
The first ever environmental portraits were created by Newman, as he was seen to push the boundaries of traditional portrait photography during the 20th century. Newman’s passion for photography began in the 1920’s, and started taking environmental portraits in the 1940’s. He included a variety of famous people in his portraits, swell as scientists, workers, composers and political leaders.
Image Analysis:
I chose to analyse this portrait by Newman because it differs from Sander’s work. This is because often Sander’s backgrounds are dull and dark, so we can focus on the subject in the image. However the background in this image is quite chaotic, which distracts the viewer from looking at the subject. This image intrigued me because usually in environmental portraits the subject is centred, and standing up. This shows us they know what they are doing and portray dominance in the photo. This photo is unique to the others because the subject is sat down, and looks overwhelmed by the mess around him. This tells us that his profession is very busy and difficult.
What I like about Newman’s work is all his photos are pure and raw. They capture the true reality and events happening at the time, rather than editing them to what he thinks the viewers will like. The people in his photos are never specifically posing for the camera, instead they are acting out their proper duties. In a way, this makes us feel more connected to them by understanding how their job really is. I will take inspiration from Newman when creating my own images. I will have some where the subject is not using for the camera, to create a sense of realism. Yet I will also have some where poses and props are used to make them more effective and intriguing.
Visual:
Messy
Chaotic
Intimidating
Dull
Background is the main focus rather than the subject
Bright lighting
Depth of field is large
Emotional:
I feel sympathetic towards the subject as he looks overwhelmed
Stress
Work overload
Uneasy
Sense of unhappiness
Technical:
Balanced composition from either side of the subject, which distracts us
Line of symmetry
Lighting is coming from the camera, so the image is bright
Lots of distractions around the subject, which makes us focus on the background
Conceptual:
This image was taken in Essen, Germany in 1963.
” Mr. Newman’s portraits were defined by his sitter’s environments, which led him to be known as the “father of the environmental portrait.”
