Environmental portraiture – 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. The purpose of an environmental is to to tell a story through props in an image that reveals the background or information about a character.

Analysis

The details of this photo leaves Easter eggs into the life for example:

Short biography :

Born in 1985 , Laura Pannack is an award winning British photographer based in London

Her photographs

Pannack was born in Kingston upon Thames, southwest London.

She gained a degree in editorial photography and studied a foundation course in painting

When asked about her influences she stated:

 “Too many to mention … I assisted Simon Roberts and he’s been a mentor to me, an epic support and an inspiration. I’ve also always been influenced by Taryn Simon, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Gregory Crewdson, Joel Sternfeld, Sally Mann and Vanessa Winship.”

– Laura pannack

Chosen image

The image i have chosen to analyse is titled : A wondrous child Erja ( born to be free)

27th June 2023

The image consists of a young girl in a white dress and trainers seen in the foreground , we can tell she is young by her size , she is quite small and this is even further exaggerated by the trees that surround her.

Brief Introduction : 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

Short Biography

August Sander was born in Herdorf on the 17th of November 1876 , his father was a carpenter working in the mining industry who had 6 other children.

August was introduced to photography during his time assisting a photographer from Seigen who , like Sanders father , worked for a mining company.

In order to buy is own photography equipment, Sander borrowed money from his uncle , Sander then continued to set up his own darkroom.

Some of his work

Augusts main goal was to document the society he lived in , he was committed to ‘telling the truth’ and in order to do this he would photograph straight on , in natural light with information about the subject subtly hinted to through props in the image. These props could consist of clothing , setting , pose and any objects shown in the photo.

More information

In 1911 Sander began his first series of photographs titled : ‘People Of The 20th Century’ , his aim was to show the diversity amongst the population during the Weimar Republic

He split this series into 7 sections :

• The Farmer
• The skilled tradesman
• Woman
• Classes and Professions
• The Artists
• The City
• The Last People

Sander came in contact with a radical group of artists called the Cologne Progressives in the early 1920s , this group was linked to the workers movement who:

“sought to combine constructivism and objectivity, geometry and object, the general and the particular, avant-garde conviction and political engagement, and which perhaps approximated most to the forward looking of New Objectivity “

– Wieland Schmied

Analysis

Salz is in a stylish herringbone coat, confidently leaning against a grand entrance, framed artwork hanging in the background. In his hands is a publication rolled to strategically reveal an Art Deco illustration of a young fashionable woman, an emblem of Germany’s gilded era. This print, among the earliest by Sander to come up for auction, offers an intimate glimpse into the great talent of Sander, the established success of Salz and a brief period of Germany’s artistic flourishing between the Wars.

Visual –

• subject is stood up and leaning against an industrial looking doorframe
• negative space behind the subject gives the photo an eerie feeling and
• subjects central
• subject is leaning to the side of the image , hands overlapping eachother standing straight up – calm but alert/aware

Technical –

• Lighting – could be natural or ariticial as the lighting is soft but its not clear if the subject is standing in the doorway to the outside or just to another room
• Aperture – background is out of focus leading me to believe the aperture is lower possible f/1.8 or f/2

Contextual –

• subject -Sam Salz
• Born 1894 , Poland
• Left home age 17 moving to austria and later france
• Opened his own gallary in early 1920s despite his aspirations to be an artist

Concept–

• Sander took a liking to Slaz
• Both eschewing traditional norms
• Salz was the the subject to many other photographers and artists

Definition – A photographic typology is a study of “types”. That is, a photographic series that prioritizes “collecting” rather than stand-alone images. It’s a powerful method of photography that can be used to reshape the way we perceive the world around us.

A photographic typology is a body of work that visually explores a theme or subject to draw out similarities and differences for examination.

An example of the use of Typologies is ” The People Of The 20th Century” as each image is classed by age, occupation ,class etc.

I didn’t like the over exposure in the background where the sun is positioned and the colours in the image felt dull , i wanted to dramatizes the image to create a more serious feel.

I then decided to create a black and white version to add dimension and atmosphere to the photo.

Comparison

When comparing the two images it is clear that Sander uses a more warmer filter , i aimed to position the subject somewhat similar to the character in Sanders image , both images use side backlighting whilst also using natural lighting , however the lighting is cast on different sides of the face.

The term “fixing the shadows” started as a way to describe the early stages of photography , referring to the fixer , a chemical combination used in the final steps of processing an image onto paper. However its also linked to the use of the camera obscura.

The term ” camera obscura ” was first used by the German astronomer Johnnas kepler in the early 17th century.

Originally the camera obscura was used to study eclipses with without the risk of damaging the eyes by looking directly into the sun

A camera obscura consists of a box, tent, or room with a small hole in one side or the top. Light from an external scene passes through the hole and strikes a surface inside, where the scene is reproduced, inverted (upside-down) and reversed (left to right), but with color and perspective preserved.

The camera obscura was then later used by artists to trace outlines which led many to take an interest in looking for more permanent photographic images as the camera obscuras images were beautiful but fleeting. This included Nicephore niepce.

Nicephorus Niepce

Nicephorus Niepce was a French inventor and one of the earliest pioneers of photography. He developed heliography after being inspired by the camera obscura which translates to ” sun drawings ” , he used it to create the worlds first permanent photographic images.

For his first experiments , Nicéphore Niépce positioned at the back of a camera obscura sheets of silver salts coated paper, known to blacken with daylight . In may 1816 he produced the first image of nature : a view from a window . It was a negative and the image vanished because in broad daylight the coated paper becomes completely black . He calls these images “retinas”.

Louis Daguerre

Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre was a French artist and photographer, recognized for his invention of the eponymous daguerreotype process of photography. He became known as one of the fathers of photography much like Nicephore.

the eponymous daguerreotype is characterized by its mirrored surface and the image’s high level of detail. First introduced in 1839 in France, the process quickly spread throughout Europe and to the United States where it was popular through the 1860s.

Having effectively retired, Daguerre returned to his first passion and spent the last decade of his life painting diorama-like tableaus for local churches in and around the Paris suburb of Bry-sur-Marne. He died there of a heart attack on July 10, 1851, aged 63.

The daguerreotype process made it possible to capture the image seen inside a camera obscura and preserve it as an object. It was the first practical photographic process and ushered in a new age of pictorial possibility.

Daguerreotype

The daguerreotype is a direct-positive process, creating a highly detailed image on a sheet of copper plated with a thin coat of silver without the use of a negative. The process required great care. The silver-plated copper plate had first to be cleaned and polished until the surface looked like a mirror.

Daguerreotypes can be identified by a silver mirror finish where the image can be seen or not seen depending on reflection. These date from 1839 -1860s. Ambrotypes are a positive on glass with black background added in order to contrast and see the image dating from the 1850s -1860s

The daguerreotype is accurate, detailed and sharp. It has a mirror-like surface and is very fragile. Since the metal plate is extremely vulnerable, most daguerreotypes are presented in a special housing.

Henry Fox Talbot

William Henry Fox Talbot was an English scientist, inventor, and photography pioneer who invented the salted paper and calotype processes, precursors to photographic processes of the later 19th and 20th centuries. 

William Henry Fox Talbot was credited as the British inventor of photography. In 1834 he discovered how to make and fix images through the action of light and chemistry on paper. These ‘negatives’ could be used to make multiple prints and this process revolutionised image making.

Within 18 months of his initial experiments, he had grasped how to make these drawings permanent and, more importantly, developed the negative/positive process. Talbot’s calotype became the foundation for modern photographic practices. Talbot’s name appears alongside Louis Daguerre as a pioneering inventor.

Richard Leach Maddox

Richard Leach Maddox was an English photographer and physician who invented lightweight gelatin negative dry plates for photography in 1871.

Long before his discovery of the dry gelatin photographic emulsion, Maddox was prominent in what was called photomicrography – photographing minute organisms under the microscope. The eminent photomicrographer of the day, Lionel S. Beale, included as a frontispiece images made by Maddox in his manual ‘How to work with the Microscope’ – wikipedia

definiton

Shutter speed is exactly what it sounds like: It’s the speed at which the shutter of the camera closes. A fast shutter speed creates a shorter exposure the amount of light the camera takes in and a slow shutter speed gives the photographer a longer exposure. This is shown underneath

Raw images and examples

Francesca woodman:

Here we took inspiration from her work that often portray ghostly and eerie feelings

photo info : 8/5 seconds f/5

Editing

I then repeated this process with the other select photos , the outcome is displayed bellow

Brendan Austin

Brendan Austin is a photographer who explores the illusion of how paper can be manipulated to represent nature.

His photos often consist of scrunched paper placed that replicate the look of mountains

This inspired me to attempt to re create this illusion.

Other images

ISO Sensitivity is a standard set by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that represents sensitivity to light as a numerical value. A higher number indicates a higher sensitivity and a greater ability to capture light. The ISO Sensitivity is set and changed in the shooting settings menu.

Raw images

These were my raw images which i then decided to edit in Lightroom

Reducing the selection

The aperture is the opening in the lens that allows light to enter the camera and onto the sensor or film. The size of this opening can be adjusted by changing the aperture settings. Take a look at the picture of a lens aperture above. Notice the adjustable blades that can move to adjust the size of the opening.

Ralph Eugene

Ralph Eugene was living as an optician whilst simultaneously creating images that surrounded themes of children , masks , movement and dolls giving his photos an eerie feeling

“Creative pictures must be felt in a similar way as one listens to music, emotionally, without expecting a story, information or facts.”

Ralph Eugene Meat yard

To take inspiration from Eugene I decided to edit one of my aperture photos to reflect the style of his photos.

I then converted the image to be black and white following the theme of Ralph Eugenes images

controls the amount of light that enters through iris in the lens and is measured in f/stop , you can adjust this by changing said f/stops.

Depth of field is defined as what is in focus in front and behind the subject , shallow depth in field has limited things in focus often with a blurred background this requires f/stop of f/2 or f/4. Depth of field is defined by aperture the higher the number the more in focus an example of this would be f/16 or f/22.

As seen here the high aperture is f/2.8 meaning the depth of field in lower keeping less in focus