In order to gain an understanding of the four categories into which the people Brief has been loosely organized, start by researching your allocated photographer and the following terms :
Fine Art Portraits; Corporate Portraits; Environmental Portraits and Candid Portraits.
Whilst it helps if you can identify the chief characteristics that define these diverse approaches to portrait photography they are by no means mutually exclusive. Don't get too pre-occupied down with categorizing images.
The photographer that i had to look at was Jody Ake. Below is a self portrait taken straight from his website.
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| Jody Ake. |
"I believe the portrait can disclose more about the subject than what is found on the surface. The subject , either willingly or subconsciously, shows us more than he/she intends. The camera can see more than the naked eye, moving past our persona and catching a glimpse of who we really are." Jody Ake.
Find a set of at least six images.
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| Images 1 and 2 |
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| Images 3 and 4 |
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| Images 5 and 6 |
Three main points about their approach
2. He uses a large format camera and glass plates.
3. Each image requires the mixing of individual chemicals for each separate image.
Three main points about their visual style of photography
2. His imagery often has a very raw look to it. It doesn't look to over manipulated and his lighting is normally simple.
Below is a website i have found detailing the teqnique of the glass plate process.
ttp://www.costaricacoffeeart.com/alternative_photography_make_your_own_negative_film_or_plates.php
Find their website/homepage and further links to their work
http://jodyake.com/index.htmlAll of the images below are taken from the linked website that is underneath each image.
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| "Knocking On Harlem's Door". |
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| Jody Ake Critical Mass Image. |
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| Jody Ake Image From Photolust Website. |
http://www.photoawards.com/en/Pages/Gallery/winner2010.php
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| Self Portrait Winner |
Speaking in the film, as part of the Oregon Experience video from the website below.
http://www.opb.org/videoplayer/oex/popup.php?pid=ERfUsxWw2ZBzDww19IcBPAYT2J76Holo
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| Image From His Website. |
http://www.fotovisura.com/user/jodyake
http://www.foundfolios.com/Jody-Ake/work
http://1721.portfolio.artlimited.net/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jody-Ake-Photography/111169642233743
http://gb.zinio.com/pages/FocusMagazine/Dec-11/416205242/pg-198
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/276126265/collodion-quarterly
Also below is a link to his own business website , where he sells the plates and equipment used in his work.
http://incameraindustries.com/
Fine Art Portraits.
These are usually photographs made with the intent of display or sale with an artistic look and feel to them. The images are usually made to fuel the creative vision of the photographer and could be used for many different things. They could be displayed in galleries, hung on walls in private or personal spaces and even used in advertising (magazines/billboards). More creative use of lighting and surroundings can be used to create the image and the images can be manipulated more to produce the look that the photographer wants to achieve.
Below are a couple of examples of different Fine Art Portraits.
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| Fine Art Portrait Example 1 |
http://image-word.blogspot.com/2008/01/marian-sell-photography.html
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| Fine Art Portrait Example 2 |
http://world-market-portraits.blogspot.com/2008/06/loretta-lux.html
Corporate Portraits.
Corporate portraits can be many things. There are many sub categories within this field of photography. You might have to make the person representative of the brand within their field of work or you might have to show a relaxed working environment. This area to me could be the hardest part of this brief as it involves good use of lighting and the relaxing of your client.
This kind of photography can be enhanced by the use of different techniques such as the use of props,
other people or close ups. Exteriors of buildings or small confined interiors can enhance the image as is the importance of lighting undertaken during this kind of photography.
The images below are all good examples i have found to show off different types of corporate portraits.
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| Corporate Portrait 1 |
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefantell/3642626650/
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| Corporaite Portrait 2 |
http://www.specialimages.co.uk/blog/2011/03/01/corporate-headshots-london-3/
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| Corporaite Portrait 3 |
http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/how-to-take-corporate-and-business-portrait-photography/
I found a nice website with the link below on tips on shooting corporate portraits.
http://mansurovs.com/how-to-photograph-corporate-portraits
Environmental Portraits.
An environmental portrait is a photograph taken of a person or persons in their usual work, home, rest or play environment. It can help put them into context with the overall final image and can give the viewer an insight into the lifestyle and personality of the subject. This kind of photography usually leads to very natural looking portraits as the subject is often more relaxed with being photographed in a familiar surrounding.
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| An Example Of An Environmental Portrait. |
http://www.digital-photography-school.com/environmental-portraits
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| Another Example Of An Environmental Portrait. |
http://www.illustratedphotography.com/photography-tips/environmental-portrait
Candid Portraits.
The word Candid means free from reservation, disguise,or subterfuge. It can mean unposed and informal as well as honest and impartial. A candid portrait tends to be a spontaneous, unplanned, photograph. This could be of a random member of the public, a famous person or of an unsuspecting member of your family. Because of the nature of this type of work, little equipment is needed. The smaller the camera used in this type of photography the better as it becomes less intrusive. As little equipment is needed, this makes this kind of photography accessible to all photographers especially amateurs, that might not have access to the more expensive pieces of kit. You need to adapt quick in this type of portrait work as light can change fast and people tend to move around, backgrounds my not be ideal and there may be other environmental distractions.
http://www.idigitalphoto.com/candid-photos/
http://www.my-photography-tips.com/candid-photography.html
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| An Example Of A Candid Portrait. |
http://www.tipsfromthetopfloor.com/2005/06/01/tftf_show18-portrait-photography/
There are even sub categories in this kind of photography work, like the Celebrity Candid Portrait. Below is an example that i found of this type of photo.
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| John Travolta By Norman Seeff |
http://vintage-everyday.blogspot.com/2011/12/candid-portraits-of-celebrities-by.html
SECONDARY TASK
I photographed two guys on the train on the way home from uni today. We chatted lots and they get the train every day so this is a usual environment for them to be in twice a day as they have to travel to and from college. Normally on the train, people don't tend to look or talk to other people and it was great to see these two guys chatting away and generally interested in the fact that i was doing a photography degree at uni. I have placed these images here and posted them onto Flickr.
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| Two Guys On A Train 1 |
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| Two Guys On A Train 2 |
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| Two Guys On A Train 3 |
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| Two Guys On A Train 4 |
After going through everybody's images it was clear just what an environmental portrait should contain. The above images i showed in class were more candid images as they didn't show off much of the environment or show much about the guys in context, or within the environment, in the images. Over the next couple of weeks i will retake some more images to replace these and as i have a shoot coming up soon they should be perfect for this type of image.
KATY'S MINI PEOPLE BRIEF
Katy was filling in for Andy today as he was off sick and set us all a mini task of taking a high contrast, corporate style, portrait of each other. In the classroom there is a photograph of all the teachers in the photography department that could be used as an idea/base for our set of images. I took a photograph of this picture when we first started uni and will post it bellow so i can reference it if needed.
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| Example Of High Contrast Portrait. |
The outline for this brief was as follows:-
1. Use studio flash to create a portrait suitable for a professional blog or website profile.
2. Consider most appropriate use of reflector, honeycomb, beauty dish etc.
3. Consider placement and position of lighting in relation to subject.
4. Vary the viewpoint of the camera position to flatter the subject (eye level; from bellow; from above).
5. Observe the way the shadows fall on the subject and model the face.
6. The final image will be a full frame crop of the face only but you may wish to crop in post-production.
For the brief we were told that we would need the following items:-
1. A light meter to get the correct exposure.
2. Use steps if necessary to get a higher viewpoint.
3. Radio trigger or cable for flash.
Evaluation for the image will be based on the following:
Is the image a likeness?
Does the subject like it / would they be happy to use it?
Is it fit for purpose?
How was the experience for the subject?
When we started this brief i had a very definite idea of what i was going to do. This was because it was the way in which i wanted to shoot an image for my fine art portrait for the overall people brief. I wanted to create a very low key image with minimal lighting and because of this i could use this mini brief as a kind of experiment for my overall fine art portrait.
I used two models Julia and Cameron to experiment with the look i wanted. I took a series of images for part one and part two of the brief and it was a great learning curve for me in the studio experimenting with minimal lighting. I tried out different lighting set ups and used ladders for some shots and none for others. Also using a light meter was great as i haven't really used one before and we had just learned about them in our places session with Richard the day before.
Below are the final two images that i ended up with of each of the two models.
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| Julia. |
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| Cameron. |
Both models seemed happy and at ease while shooting them, but this was mainly as we took it in turns to shoot each other. The final image for both of them was a likeness and fit for the purpose in which they were going to be used. All of us learned a lot from this brief and enjoyed the session. It was great to see different people using different techniques to try and relax their models.
Stage two of the brief involved the possibility of using furniture, props or background details to explore:
- Head and shoulder compositions.
- Half, three quarter and full length posses (seating or standing)
Again i wanted to explore the above image a littler further and decided not to use props as i still wanted very minimal lighting on my model. I wanted to show more of them though this time but still keeping with the same kind of effect as the above images.
Below are a some more images that i took of Cameron showing more of him but still in the same kind of style.
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| Cameron 1 |
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| Cameron 2 |
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| Cameron 3 |
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| Cameron 4 |
Below is a contact sheet made with the images i took in today's session. It shows how i started out with more light and then gradually lessened the light to create the effect i wanted for the final images.
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| Contact Sheet For Studio Shoot. |
We were told we could further explore this idea by using locations within the building.
There are many architectural features that can be used for framing - stair wells, window, doorways etc.
These features in conjunction with your technical ability should be used to create unusual views, striking images or sensitively observed portraits conveying the human condition.
This mini project is now going to be used as a start to my fine art portrait idea. There will be a sketch book with ideas on how this turns out to accompany this project.
THE MINI RESEARCH/PEOPLE PROJECT.
As mentioned on my earlier Research Methods page we had to take a series of images somewhere that we had not been to before. We had to do a little research into the place and construct images that we could share with both the People and Research briefs in mind. Below are the contact sheets of images taken for this brief and also i have chosen to show some of the images that i liked the best.
As you can see by the following contact sheets i ended up taking a lot of images that day and really enjoyed this little mini project, i learned a lot from it.
Out of all the images though the following five are my favourite from the whole set.
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| Image 1 |
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| Image 2 |
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| Image 3 |
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| Image 4 |
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| Image 5 |
THE HUMAN CONDITION
1 - What is meant by 'the human condition'?The above information was taken from the website bellow whilst looking into the meaning behind the human condition.
'The human condition' is a phrase typically used with respect the generality of situations that humans face in 'getting along with each other and the world', situations that are difficult to encompass in some way because of hang-ups or predispositions of one kind or another or just simple ignorance -"What did I do to wrong her?", "Why can't we get along with each other?" and "The beauty of a flower, isn't that proof of God"? -illnesses of a sort, mental and real, our own or society's, mental or real, and how they weigh upon us and society about us. The human condition is, for example, the material of poetry in general and the lyrics of most music ('rap' included) and various other 'secular' or even religious situations -lovers in warring religions, for example, and the irony in the contemporaneity of both most abject and most excessive 'lifestyle and quality of life' as in some parts of Africa and anywhere in the US. Perhaps the most obvious examples come right off any daily newspaper -the 'irresolvability' of the Israeli-Palestinian problem, letters to Dear Abby and Ann Landers (and their answers) -or the dog next door, run over and killed because your neighbor had a fight with his wife and forgot to close the gate. And there are more general examples too -the individual saddling his friends and relatives with his aches and pains or complaints on government: "They (whoever) ought'a do (whatever)" and "You can't change human nature". Various expressions of frustration, 'unrequited love', 'the seven deadly sins' -'the human condition' is some one aspect or another of these items.
http://www.condition.org/humcon.htm
There are many books we can look at reguarding the human condition and bellow is one of the main ones that i found while researching this.
The Human Condition, published in 1958 by Hannah Arendt.
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| Human Condition Book |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_condition
http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20120506_Book_review__John_Horgan_rsquo_s__lsquo_The_End_of_War_rsquo_.html?cmpid=138887484
http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Condition+of+human+rights+challenging%3A+NHRC+chair&NewsID=330920
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/05/how-the-unrelenting-threat-of-death-shapes-our-behavior/256728/
CONTACT SHEETS FOR DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE BRIEF
FINE ART CONTACT SHEETS
These really just show ideas at first and if you read the sketchbook you can see how the idea developed into the final set of four images.
CORPORATE CONTACT SHEETS
THE FINAL SET OF IMAGES
ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAIT
I think out of all my people images this is the one that really shows off the human condition and its an image that i really enjoyed taking. I talked to the man for a long time and watched him working. He builds dry stone walls and the work is immaculate. Then after talking to him you realise that he is blind. The walls he builds are amazing and all the bricks correctly fit together. When watching him work you can see how he feels the shape of the brick or stone and then fits it into the gaps.
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| Environmental portrait |
CANDID PORTRAIT
I have decided to use two images in this section of the brief. While out in Bradford visiting the museum i took a couple of candid photographs of people. Both images i really like and show the youth of today and there carefree nonchalant attitude. You get this from both of the images as you can tell that they are comfortable in their environment and that they don't seem to see or possibly care about the world going on around them.
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| Candid Portrait 1 |
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| Candid Portrait 2 |
This image i ended up cropping down as there were to many distracting elements to the image and in the end it is the two central people that i wanted to focus on.
CORPORATE PORTRAIT
For the next image i wanted to do something a little different. I did not want to use a studio or do something normal for this image. The person that i photographed for this part of the brief has a kind of a duel personality. He owns his own housing company in Manchester that renovates houses for the council amongst other things. Though at night time he is a door man and runs an event called the Burnley Brawl (A Cage Fighting Night). He is also a father to his daughter and i wanted my image of him to try and show all these things but still looking like a Corporate image.
I have put two images into this bit as i am still torn between both of them and will leave it until the last minute to pick one of them. If i can submit both of them, then i will.
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| Corporate 1 |
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| Corporate 2 |
Both of the above images have been cropped from these previews for printing and then worked on more in Photoshop before being sent to Kevin for final printing.
FINE ART PORTRAIT
I worked a lot on this part of the brief and i am submitting four images for this section along with a sketchbook. I was looking into how man acts with nature and how we pollute our natural enviroment. I looked into natural substances like wood and man made substances like plastic and how to show the decay of the man made enviroment for this part of the brief. Also worth noting in here is the fact that i wanted to use natural lighting for these images i did not want them to look false or studio lit as the plastic used just reflected light back in a really horrid way.
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| Fine Art 1 |
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| Fine Art 2 |
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| Fine Art 3 |
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| Fine Art 4 |
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| Possible image to maybe change from the above third image. |
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| Possible image to maybe change from the above third image. |
