Identity is the set of qualities, beliefs, personality traits, appearance, or expressions that characterize a person. Identity means different things ot different people and everyone identifies themselves with something else – could be a job, a role, a parent, a sportsperson – e.g skateboarder, baseball player.

Femininity is described as the qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of girls. The stereotypical qualities for women are pretty much the polar opposite – kind, emotional, compassionate, nurturing, gentle.

The appearance of masculinity and femininity are represented in very different ways through photography. Masculinity is generally represented with sharp lighting, accentuating sharp, aggressive muscle lines, jaw lines and pronounced Adams apples – the sharp lighting also plays a part in making the skin look rough and weathered, which plays into the stereotypes of men being strong brave, hard working. On the other hand, femininity is represented with softer lighting, which places more emphasis on things like collar bones and gradual curves – and also plays a part in making skin look softer and smoother, which plays into the characteristic stereotype of women being soft, nurturing.

Photography captures the essence of individuality through portraits for example showing unique features emotions or objects in the image to tell a personal story.