Portraiture

Application

At it's most basic a portrait is a picture of a person. The emphasis of the subject is usually on the face. A portrait can be a literal physical representation of a subject:

Other than the lighting, this is a true physical representation of Che Guevara.

Or a metaphorical representation:

The man in this picture is being portrayed as a lying business man due to the "pinocchio" style nose and business suit.

One thing to keep in mind is that the interpretation of a portrait is subjective and as such the observer's perspective can differ greatly from the photographer's or artist.

The origin of the portrait was a way for those in power to be represented in a positive light (perhaps it was also an egotistical persuit) and for the artists at the time to earn a living. As the patrons of a portrait were wealthy and powerful, the artist would understandably try to capture them as positively as they could. The power remained firmly with the subject. With the advent of the camera the balance of power has shifted more towards the photographer and they tend to represent their subjects as they see fit. Some portait artists/photographers choose to convey a very honest view of a subject.

Good examples of this are photographs taken by Larry Clark from 1963 to 1971. Clark would take pictures of his friends injecting drugs or indulging in sexual activity. This left a shocking impression on the Americian nation as it was an intimate look into the social preferences of suburban youths. The previous beliefs that only urban youths did such things was shattered with but a few photographs.

A photo from Teenage Lust. A revealing look into the social world of American suburban youths during Clark's teenage years.









Context

Portraits are used for the reasons stated above but also for a various of purposes in everyday life, some of which are quite subtle.

One example of a subtle application of a portrait would be ID cards. The emphasis of an ID card is on the face so that the person is instantly recognisable. Even coins or banknotes tend to have a portrait of a VIP on them.


Portraits are also important for maintaining brand recognition to consumers. KFC has Colonel Sanders on all of their packaging and the spines of DVD cases often feature a portrait of the protagonist so that consumers instantly know who they are. The list is almost endless, as portraits influence us in a vast number of ways.


Technique

The ideal way to capture a portrait varies depending on the purpose of the portrait. If it is for advertising purposes then it is usually a matter of directing a model as necessary until you have the desired look, angle, etc. When it comes to taking a portrait of a subject at ease or how they are normally, the best way to go about it is to make the subject feel relaxed and be patient in order to capture the decisive moment. Tony Vaccaro took this approach when Picasso invited him to take his picture for a portrait. At first Picasso was nervous and posed in a number of ways that he had been instructed to in previous sessions with other photographers. It took Vaccaro to lie that his camera was not working in order to make Picasso relax. It was then that Vaccaro took the picture.

Photo-Journalism

Application

Photo-Journalism is taking photos for publications. It begun in the 30's with the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson, in particular his picture of the Decisive Moment.

The Decisive Moment has since become a very well known term in photography, that refers to the perfect moment to take a picture. A split second before or after will make the picture look very different and reduce the impact it has on viewers.

Photo-Journalism was made popular thanks to the invention of the Leica camera which was the world's first portable camera.














When Photo-Journalism first started it was revolutionary, as for the first time in history people were able to take a photo of an event at the time it happened. As fantastic as this was it is still fundamentally flawed, as a picture can only represent one moment in time from a single perspective. The validity of a picture can be questioned even further as the photographer is the gatekeeper of information and can choose which pictures are shown to the public.

As valuable as Photo-Journalism is, since the 20's people have been able to manipulate images and this has become easier as the years have gone by, as technology has become more sophisticated. A large range of photos have been found to be fraudulent. This is unethical, as some fake photos can be very convincing and give viewers a false impression of an event or person. People must always question what they are shown and remain objective in order to know the truth.

Context

Photo-Journalism is used to portray an event at the time that it is happening. The best known examples of this are Robert Capa and Tony Vaccaro. Both of these men took photos of World War II as it happened. Their photos were up close and personal and conveyed to the viewer the violence of war.

Photo-Journalism is still relevent in today's society and while the future of photo-journalism is debatable, it is very much a part of everyday life. It is still employed by many companies as a powerful marketing tool to promote a product or service. Everytime you see a particularly appetising meal on a poster that makes you want to eat it, or a very glamourous looking outfit in a magazine that you want to own, you are being influenced quite purposefully by photo-journalism. Some may say that photo-journalism has lost it's roots as business's use it for corporate purposes rather than to provide hard news but it is still used to convey events to people in the form of pictures in newspapers or online articles. News programmes may use a photo while a news reader informs you of the events that the image portrays and even those who are not particularly media savvy can be pseudo photo-journalists by sending in pictures to TV programmes or websites.

It may only be less that 100 years old but photo-journalism has come a long way. I hope that it continues to have an impact on society.

Robert Capa

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Ansel Adams

Intro to Photography

Hi there readers and fellow bloggers,

I'm Stephen and today's blog is going to be about what photography means to me and what I hope to achieve through studying it. Hopefully it should be an interesting read, as I personally hate boring text.

Photography means many things to me but first and foremost, I see it as a form of expression. Through photography we can convey a variety of situations and feelings. Photos can make people pensive, laugh, cry and inspire. Any medium that can draw emotions from people is a powerful one and photography does this very well.

Secondly photography is one the most powerful marketing tools that exist. How often have you seen a picture of something and then wanted it? That is no accident and the people behind the camera know exactly what they're doing.

From studying photography, I hope to learn how to better express myself through a medium that I have relatively little knowledge of and hone my marketing skills. I know that my two goals are very different from each other but it's a tough world out there and you need to have the best of both worlds.

You'll be hearing (reading) more from me hopefully and with any luck it will be an interesting journey for us both.

Take it easy.

Stephen