Environmental photography is a subgenre of portraiture photography that generally tends to feature the subject in their ‘natural’ environment, eg skateboarders in the skatepark or in the streets, workers at work, labourers at a building site, and that general stuff. Differently to traditional portraiture, environmental portraiture tries to capture the subject in their natural environment, using props lighting and accessories to create more context to the image and create a deeper story which might add layers of meaning to the image.

ANALYSIS – This is an example of environmental portraiture. This photo is clearly taken on a digital format. The mise-en-scene presents an old woman with a sombre, bored expression sat in her old, 70s style house playing solitaire. The lighting is natural lighting, through the window, perhaps with an element of warm, artificial indoor lighting. The lighting is mainly coming from her right and I can tell this because the right side of her face is much lighter that the left side. The ISO is probably low-medium because the lighting is good and there isn’t the stereotypical grain typically seen when a high ISO is used. \the aperture is probably medium as well maybe f/5.6 – I can tell this because most if the photo is in focus but the table has a little bit of blur – the depth of field is fairly medium. The shutter speed is probably also medium to keep these settings balanced. The framing of the image is three quarter length, and she is sat down. She is making eye contact (the opposite of averted gaze) and she is clearly engaging with the camera. The white balance of this image is quite on the yellow side, giving it a warm homely feeling as you would feel inside a dimly lit old persons house.

AUGUST SANDER

August Sander was a german portrait photographer who focused on capturing a wide range of people in society, from farmers and workers to artists and city dwellers, in an honest and realistic way. His famous project, “People of the 20th Century,” grouped portraits by social roles, creating a visual study of Germany in that era. Sander’s style was very straightforward, with natural poses that showed each person as they are, which set a foundation for documentary photography and influenced later photographers like Diane Arbus (according to wikipedia). During the war, his photos faced challenges from the Nazis, as his realistic portrayals didn’t fit what they wanted, which then led to censorship and he lost some photos. Despite this, sander’s work was preserved by his son and continues to be valued for its deep insight into society and human personality. He learnt about photography when he was working in the coal mines and assisting a photographer.

MISE EN SCENE – This is a black and white film photo by August Sander. The mise-en-scene presents a sculpture artist contemplating his work. Surrounding him are tools to sculpt along with different, finished sculptures and this room is clearly an artists studio – his natural environment. The man wears a long white robe fit for an sculptist who is avoiding getting messy. He has an averted gaze, looking towards the light source which hits him dead in the face and comes from the left side of the frame. This mans is comes the the working social class – clearly spending his days labouring away creating sculptures probably to sell to the state of the higher classes above him. This photo tells this story magnificently and clearly has lots of backstory.

PROCESS – When I imagine how this photo was taken, I imagine the photographer had to spend hours with this man, having a cup of tea before, eventually building up a rapport to be able to ask him to take his photo. The photo captures the essence of the scene perfectly – August sanders did a breath taking job about capturing the man in his natural environment, and his natural, contemplative state because of this.

LIGHTING -The lighting is soft, capturing a mysterious, dusty aura around this man and his workshop, however, there is a start contrast between light and shadows created by the darkness of the room and the single natural light source – probably a window overlooking the town.

FRAME – The photo is a full length body photo – capturing his worn out shoes all the way to the emotions on his face. The approach to the photo is informal, natural and unposed, and the man has a fairly neutral expression.

SETTINGS – The camera settings probably have quite a high ISO because of the clearly dark setting and the tell tale grain on the photo. The shutter speed is probably quite slow because the photo isn’t amazingly sharp and there is a clear amount of darkness in the image. The aperture is probably quite low because the statues are blurred and the depth of field is very narrow. The white balance is more on the warm side however in black and white it is hard to tell.

SOME MORE EXAMPLES OF AUGUST SANDERS WORK

TYPOLOGIES

August Sander specifically used the theory of typology to capture portraits from varied social groups.

Typology is a way of grouping things that share lots of similar features. Sander specifically organised people based on tings like their professions and social status to show the diversity of society. There is a few different key points in typology like objective portraits which focus on peoples social roles instead of their personalities, social categories which group people to reveal social structure and the big picture which helps viewers see patterns in society.

Typology is unique because of its systematic approach, which involves capturing a series of images which will soon be a collection, using a consistent method (like similar lighting and background or similar composition). The focus on patterns is another reason why typology is unique – this involves highlighting what is common among the subjects of the images – whether that would be shapes of buildings, facial expressions or everyday objects – in this case however it would be the peoples professions or hobbies since I’m studying environmental portraiture.

PHOTOSHOOT PLAN

1. Overview

• Project Title: Environmental portraiture
• Date & Time: Monday 11/11/24 – 4:30 PM (GOLDEN HOUR)
• Location: Les Quennevais Skatepark
• Subject: I am going to capture skateboarders in their natural environment which is the skatepark – hopefully somehow has a retro video camera which will add to the scene and of course I will ensure their skateboards are in frame.
• Goal/Purpose: I am going to try to capture the essence of skateboarding by attempting to be comfortable with the subject, and hopefully I can make the photos look more street oriented and cultured by making sure there is some graffiti in the background. To capture authentic photos – I need to build some rapport and spend some time talking to the skateboarders. Building rapport can create a more comfortable environment which might let me take more candid photos that don’t feel as rigid. (this will be easy as I am already friends with a lot of the skateboarders.)

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2. Concept & Mood

• Mood/Style: I hope the mood is natural, but if I’m lucky the light will line up and there will be a sunset glow to the image.
• Scene/Background: Scene will be the different ramps at the skatepark, the graffiti wall, the 3 blocks everyone sits on which is usually packed with stuff
• Lighting Plan: I won’t be using a soft box or anything, just natural light and potentially the flash on my camera if needed.
• Props/Accessories: Skateboards, vintage camcorders, fashion (baggy clothes)

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3. Equipment Checklist

• Camera: Canon Camera 7D MK1
• Lenses: Wide angle (will crop in for more of a 50mm portraiture effect.
• Lighting: natural, camera flash.
• Tripod: n/a
• Extra Batteries & Memory Cards: yes

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4. Notes & Reminders

• Pose Ideas: Sitting down – looking away (averted gaze) – looking towards the camera (eye contact). Standing up, about to go for a trick. Watching someone else doing something as well could work.
• Backup Plan: skate video editor (indoors)

PHOTOSHOOT

Presentation

I used photoshop to create a little collage of my images. For the background I used one of the black and white images and added a gaussian blur filter which makes the main images pop out more. I used the guides tools to make sure that the gaps between the images were even and centered them. My favorite image is the biggest one and this makes it the clear place your eye is drawn to.

Environmental Portraits are photographs of people in their natural environment like: a workplace, a hobby or their home something that captures that person as they are.

Mood Board

I’ve decided to look at two different portrait photographers (Arnold Newman and Michelle Sank), this is because I wanted to create a variety of images for my final pieces.

Artists Research

Arnold Newman was born in 1938 in New York City and studied at the University of Miami however, he died in 2006. He was considered as the pioneer of the environmental portrait, he was the most influential photographers in the 20th Century. He started by working at chain portrait studios in Philadelphia and immediately began creating his own abstract and documentary style photography. Normally, his style of photography is black and white however, in some photos he has chose to use colour to show the contrast or how the light is captured. He also uses a low angle to capture the person eye to eye and most of the time the person getting photographed is looking directly into the camera.

Michelle Sank was born in South Africa and settled in the UK in 1987. She cites this background as informing her interest in sub-cultures and the exploration of contemporary social issues and challenges. Her crafted portraits and landscapes meld place and person creating sociological, visual and psychological narratives. She normally uses colour for her images as she uses vibrant colours throughout her pictures. She usually take pictures of young people which to me captures youth and the personality they have which is why she might use bright colours as it represents young people. She uses a range of angles as some of her pictures are full body whilst some are three quarter length. She doesn’t have a specific way she wants them to look at the camera as there is a mix of direct eye contact and an averted gaze.

I’ve decided to base my project on home photography and capturing people in their bedrooms which to me show what type of person they are and what they are interested in. This gives me lots of creative freedom because every room is different giving me a different result each time. I will also try and get pictures of people in the place of work or doing a hobby this would link with the artist Arnold Newman. To do this I would go to the market and ask people there if I could take a picture in their workplace. This would get me a good positioning of the person and it would be better.

This is my selection of my photos for shutter speed. I cut down my amount of images via Lightroom by using the flagging filter.

Who is He?

August Sander (November 17, 1876 – April 20, 1964) was a notable German photographer known for his portraits and documentary style. His first book, Face of Our Time, came out in 1929. Many consider Sander to be the most significant German portrait photographer of the early 1900s. While he also captured landscapes, nature, architecture, and street scenes, his portraits are what he is most famous for, particularly in his series People of the 20th Century. This series was designed to reflect a diverse range of society during the Weimar Republic.

Examples of his Work

More about August Sander here – https://hautlieucreative.co.uk/photo26al/2024/10/28/environmental-portraits-example-blog-post/

Typologies

What are They?

A photographic typology is all about exploring different “types” through a series of images. Instead of focusing on individual photos, it emphasizes the idea of gathering and categorizing. This approach to photography is really impactful because it can change how we see and understand the world we live in.

Examples

Contact Sheet

By making a contact sheet it has helped me determine which images I think are best to be shown as my final images, There were images I colour coded yellow as my subject either appeared blurry or the image quality/angle wasn’t at the standards I wanted. There were images I colour coded red as my subject was looking away from the camera or the image wasn’t very relevant to what I was trying to capture. The images I colour coded green are images I think are worth choosing as my final images as they meet all my criteria and I think will look great when presented.

My Best Photos

I have selected these photos to be edited and used as my final images as they show a clear representation of my subjects usual environment and they are captured in the moment of their work which makes these images feel more genuine. They also show lots of details in the background of their environment.

Initial ideas:

Environments:

Subjects: I intend to take photos of is my family and friends.

Environments: I will try to capture my subjects in their environment most suited to them. For example: Sister: Will be photographed at her bank or at her home office Dad: Will be photographed at his garage Mum: Will be photographed at home on her patio Sisters boyfriend: Will be photographed at his workshop or his work van Friends: Will be photographed at the football pitch or basketball court

Poses: I intend to make my subjects keep quite a natural face and expression, I may also get them to hold items that will help hint of what their profession is.

Gaze: I intend to make my subjects keep eye contact with the camera in order to make the photo feel more authentic.

Composition: I intend to experiment with various amounts of compositions. Mainly on Rule of thirds and symmetry.

Framing: I intend to get the perfect balance of keeping the subject in frame and in focus while still maintaining the quality of the background behind the subject so the viewer will be able to identify the subjects environment easily.

Orientation: I will be taking most of my pictures in landscape in order to achieve a wider view of the environment.

Aperture: I will experiment with small to medium aperture in order to create a long and medium depth of field which will help me determine which is the best style to take my environmental portraits.

Arnold Newman (born in 1918 – 2006) was a American photographer who was most famous for his environmental portraits. For his portraits he made sure he used a carefully framed and well lit setting while also making sure its contents were also visible, this helps symbolize the individuals life and work in the photograph. One of his famous portraits was one taken of a man named Alfred Krupp and he was originally commissioned by Newsweek to take the portrait but he refused at first, This is due to their backgrounds as Arnold Newman is Jewish and Alfred Krupp was a convicted Nazi war criminal. Eventually Arnold Newman agreed to take the portrait as he saw the assignment as some sort of personal revenge. This portrait would then later become one of the most controversial images taken at its time.

Technical

Lighting – The photo is positioned in a way where most of the light from the image is at the top while it gets darker between the bottom of the image. The subject is also illuminated to make him the main focus which can make him look more sinister.

Aperture – The photo looks like it was taken with a wide angle lens as we are able to view a great amount of detail in the image, it also uses a low aperture which gives us a large depth of field as we are able to view most things in the images clearly and with ease and it also doesn’t appear blurry.

Shutter speed – The photo looks a bit over exposed as we can notice from the light towards the back which makes things near the light appear slightly blurry.

ISO – The photo does not appear to look very grainy so I assume that a low ISO was used.

White Balance – The picture uses quite warm colours especially on the pillars and the subject.

Visual

The image features a few colours but mainly sticks to using warm colours. The tone of the image is both light and dark, we can see this with the subject where he is illuminated with light which creates some dark shadows at the bottom of the image. We can also see that the subject takes up half of the image and has his fingers interlinked while resting his chin on top and leaning towards the camera and this being done helps create some mystery and uneasy feelings towards the subject which makes us wonder who he is and what he does in his life. We can see a pattern in the background with the pillars which are placed symmetrically with one on the left side and one on the right side which helps us direct our attention to the middle which is the subject.

Contextual

This image is supposed to represent the horrors that were happening in WW2 specifically the time period were Nazis were using Jewish people as slaves. This is easy to see as we can see that the setting appears to be in an industrial building which resembles closely to a train station, the pose and positioning of the subject also makes us uneasy and makes him look sinister to represent the Nazis at the time who were in charge of trafficking the slaves and what to do with them. The subject named Alfred Krupp was actually a convicted Nazi war criminal which makes the photo even more connected to the setting and what it is supposed to represent.

Conceptual

The concept of this image is to show the public the tragedy of the loss of millions of Jewish people during WW2 and how horrible their conditions were, By using a convicted Nazi as the subject of the photo it helped layout the true meaning of the photo and what it really presents. Arnold Newman was said to be furious when he saw this image and this photo allowed Newman to share his hatred towards Krupp with the world.

Environmental portraiture are pictures taken of the subject in their usual environment, for example a person whose skill and job is baking would have a picture taken of them at the bakery or a person who does boxing for a hobby would have a picture taken of them doing boxing at their training session. These images without explaining anything can help us determine the life’s that these people live and can reveal the type of person they are by what they do in their life. This makes Environmental portraits interesting as it gives the image a meaning and a story behind it which makes these images standout compared to other styles of images.

Why do people use environmental portraits?

People use environmental portraits as it tells a story, by viewing an image of a subject and their environment, which would be easily identifiable as its usually something we see day to day or have heard of, it allows for viewers to give their insights on the subjects personality, their life style, their hobby/job. In some cases it can even make enhance the viewers understanding of the photo as some environmental portraits have a deep and fascinating meaning like the image Alfred Krupp taken by photographer Arnold Newman.

How do I take environmental portraits?

To take a good environmental portrait image you want to make sure you have a subject and their environment (or a background/object which will make the image easy to identify of what the subjects usual environment is) and you also want to make sure that you have a plan in place of what you want to capture. Once you have everything in order you want to position your camera and ensure you have the settings you want to use to capture the image like how much light is being let in or the depth of field you want to achieve. Once that’s all done you can get your subject to look at the camera and pose however you would like and then you can capture the image.

I chose these as my final images because these are the best edited photos out of all of my possible photos and they showed the most seminaries to August Sander. and how in each photos she is looking within the camera.

print layout –

virtual gallery –

with those I used artsteps to visualise what it would look like in a gallery and to see that those 4 photos go well together

Who was he?

August Sander was a German portrait and documentary photographer. His first book Face of our Time was published in 1929. Sander has been described as “the most important German portrait photographer of the early twentieth century”.

People of the Twentieth Century

He began his decades-long project People of the Twentieth Century. Though Sander never completed this exceptionally ambitious project, it includes over 600 photographs divided into seven volumes and nearly 50 portfolios. The seven volumes Sander used as his organizing principles were The Farmer, The Skilled Tradesman, The Woman, Classes and Professions, The Artists, The City, and The Last People.

The photographs from this project are mostly black-and-white portraits of Germans from various social and economic backgrounds: aristocrats and gypsies, farmers and architects, bohemians and nuns. The portraits often include familiar signifiers (a farmer with his scythe, a pastry cook in a bakery with a large mixing bowl, a painter with his brushes and canvas, musicians with their instruments, and even a “showman” with his accordion and performing bear), but sometimes the visual clues to a subject’s “type” are not so obvious, leaving the title of the work and its placement in one of Sander’s categories to illuminate the subject’s role. The titles Sander assigned to his photographs do not reveal names, and capture one of the project’s many contradictions: Each photograph is a portrait of an individual, and at the same time an image of a type. Several subjects even reappear in different roles, which reveals an inherent flexibility that persists throughout the project.

Typologies

A photographic typology is a single photograph or more commonly a body of photographic work, that shares a high level of consistency. This consistency is usually found within the subjects, environment, photographic process, and presentation or direction of the subject and visually explores a theme or subject to draw out similarities and differences for examination.

Typology is a type of photograph which had its ultimate roots in August Sander’s series of portraits in 1929, titled “Face Of Our Time”. The term ‘Typology’ was first used to describe a style of photography when Bernd and Hilla Becher began documenting old and broken down German industrial architecture in 1959.

August Sander’s typologies

Bernhard and Hilla Becher’s typologies

The artists’ most immediately recognizable work, the typologies group several photographs of a single category of industrial structure, such as cooling towers or blast furnaces. Presented together in a grid, subtle variations emerge among these homogeneous structures.