The genre of portraiture
In photography there is many genres, some of which are borrowed from art (painting e.g. still life, portraiture, landscape). Some are special to photography (e.g. photojournalism).
If we look at the threshold concepts for photography we will see that there are several different genres of photography. A genre is when photographs are placed into separate sections. The genre portraiture is one that you can find in art and photography.
If we look at the threshold concepts for photography we will see that there are several different genres of photography. A genre is when photographs are placed into separate sections. The genre portraiture is one that you can find in art and photography.
What is a genre?
A genre can be described as a type of photograph, or a category. Most genres used by photographers have already existed previously as genres which were formulated in painting, before photography was invented. Still life, landscape and portraiture. Usually, a genre in photography creates an expectation for the meanings to come from that certain 'type' of photograph. Each type of genre creates an expectation from a particular type of photograph, although this isnt always the case as sometimes photographers interpret genres in their own way.
A genre is a category or a type of photograph. Still life, landscape, portraiture. Each genre creates a standard/expectation for the type of photograph it is. Although sometimes photographers interpret genres in their own way. Most genres used by photographers already existed as genres.
Elements of a portrait
When looking closely at a portrait, we can analyze elements. Examples of these elements are:
*Faces- including facial expressions, hair etc.
*Pose of stance- manner and attitude.
*Clothing- social class, gender, cultural values or fashion.
*Location (or background)- social scene of the person in the photograph.
There are also sub-genres within portraiture, which include:
*Studio portraits.
*Identification- passport photographs, driving license etc.
*Self portraits.
*Family snapshots.
*Police mugshots.
*Faces- including facial expressions, hair etc.
*Pose of stance- manner and attitude.
*Clothing- social class, gender, cultural values or fashion.
*Location (or background)- social scene of the person in the photograph.
There are also sub-genres within portraiture, which include:
*Studio portraits.
*Identification- passport photographs, driving license etc.
*Self portraits.
*Family snapshots.
*Police mugshots.
First ever portraits
The first time i remember seeing a portrait photo was a picture framed in my living room. It was a school photo of me, my brother and my sister from when I was in reception. It was printed and framed in a white lined photo frame that was textured, I used to run my finger along the frame.
Hippolyte Bayard self portrait 1840 |
Robert Cornelius self portrait 1839 |
In this photograph, Hippolyte Bayards self portrait gives me the idea that the photograph was aimed to be abstract over natural, although it is difficult to fully capture the idea of the background and composition of the image, it is interesting, impressive and clear enough for the time period that it was taken. The graininess of the photo shows it is not smooth or fine and it appears to be composed with grain like particles, this adds a texture to the image which can make it more interesting and makes me wonder how difficult it was to capture a portrait in 1840.
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In Robert Cornelius' self portrait, I gather the idea that this photograph was aimed to be more 'professional' over making a creative image. The photo is patchy around the sides which adds texture and patterns to the image and almost looks like water drops were on the photo whilst it was developing. The photo is not very clear, but it is clear enough to make out specific details about Robert Cornelius' face and other areas of him. The background is very bland but puts more focus on the main subject which is Robert.
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The similarites and differences between these 2 images are that they both look like old photographs but photo 1 is in full black and white and photo 2 has a grey-brownish colour overlapping the image. Photo 1 has a more detailed background with other items there whereas photo 2 has a plain background with no detail. I think that the photographs are different colours because they were taken by different types of cameras or they were taken in different years so technology changed. I think that photo 2 of Robert Cornelius is only of his head and shoulders because it was supposed to be more of a professional portrait.
I think that photo 1 of Hippolyte Bayard is an image of him laying down because it was aimed to be a more artistic photograph, they were having fun with it.
I think that photo 1 of Hippolyte Bayard is an image of him laying down because it was aimed to be a more artistic photograph, they were having fun with it.
Recreation portrait.
These pictures are of me and my sister, in the first picture my sister is 5 and i am 3 , in the second one my sister is 13 and i am 11. We recreated this picture a few years ago so now we are 16 and 15. In these pictures i am holding a buttercup to her chin (because "if her chin was yellow she likes butter") These images were both taken in Somerset and we decided to recreate it in the moment because we were wearing the same colour and our hair was the same, so it was similar to the first image. I decided not to recreate it again because these two are already very sweet and similar so i have left it at that. After looking at these photos side by side and reflecting, if we wanted the photo to be more identical, we could have looked more into the positioning and body language that is portrayed in the first photo, when we were younger, compared to the body language we are giving off in the recreated one. I would have looked more into the composition of the first photo and made sure to make it as identical as possible.
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Nico froehlich independent learning.
This task was to choose 3 photographs that appeal to me from Nico's work. below are the 3 images i chose. These are my favourite photos because they are very myterious to me and I feel like they can all tell a story, or many different stories. In some ways I feel like they have a background behind them. They can all have different meanings and it makes me think that it would be very easy for my mind to wander and become imaginative if i was writing a story based on one of these photos.
Portraits
The theme i chose for the photographs above is disguised self portrait images. This means that it is images of me, but you cant see my face. They were not difficult to take because i used my imagination and learned how to find ways to take photos with little resources. My favourite photo is the fifth one in the gallery, this is my favourite because I think that the glasses add an effect of interest because of the composition. It may make people wonder wether it is the back or front of my head. I enjoyed capturing these photographs because it helped me to use my imagination to find ways to disguise myself in a portrait.
Tyler Mitchell
Tyler mitchell is a young photographer. His work introduces new aspects of black beauty. His aim is self determination and I think his images display this meaning. This triptych of images above portray beauty and independence and I think that Tyler Mitchell thought hard about how to compose these photographs. They intrigue me because
Trip and Tyler Mitchell exhibition
Below are 20 of the photographs i chose out of all of the ones i took whilst on the trip to central London, the gagosian gallery for the Tyler Mitchell exhibition, and the photographers gallery.
Above are my favourite and most memorable moments from the trip. As we were walking and spending time in the gallerys it wasnt too hard to find nice scenes to capture. The Tyler Mitchell exhibition was beautiful to experience because his work is amazing, he has put alot of effort and thought about the composition well to be able to capture the best images he could. Along side the photographers gallery with the works of Chris Killip and many other amazing photographers.
Chris Killip inspired.
I was inspired by Chris Killips photography. Below are some of Killips images and above are the images i took. Chris killip was a Manx photographer (A group of photographers on the Isle of Man). He worked at Harvard university as a professor of visual and environmental studies from years 1991-2017. He is mainly known for his black and white photographs of people and places, specifically in the 1980. Killip started photography as a proffesion at age 16 when he worked as a beach photographer, yet sadly his career ended when he passed away on October 3rd 2020
Vivian Maier
Vivian Maier was a 'secret' American street photographer, her work was discovered and recognised after she passed away on April 21, 2009 at age 83. She worked as a nanny for 40 years, whilst pursuing photography on the side lines. She took around 150,000 in her lifetime, mostly of the people and surroundings of Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles. Her images were undiscovered and unpublished during her whole lifetime; some of her negatives weren't even developed. Her life and work is still talked about, and has been used in many documentary films. Her images have been exhibited around the world as people showed great interest in them.
Francesca Woodman
Francesa Stern Woodman was an American photographer, best known for her black and white portraits featuring herself or female models. She often experimented with exposure and movement, mainly long exposure times and jumping or walking around, her images mainly consisted of females (naked or clothed) and blurred, merging with their surroundings or their faces and bodies are obscured. Woodman took her first portrait when she was 13 and continued photographing herself until she passed away on January 19, 1981 at age 22. To this day years after her death, her worked is continued to be used in a positive way, and her creativity is appreciated.
inspired photos
Tom Hunter
Tom Hunter is a photographer who is from Dorset. He created a series of photographs which he called "The Ghetto" where he took photos in Hackney in the years 1993-1994. All of the photos in this series were taken of his friends and neighbours who he asked to be his models for his project. The Ghetto photo series was created to prove that you can find a community within people even in areas of crime and poverty. Hunter did this to try and prove that the stereotypes in the area were incorrect and really there is a sense of dignity. The photographs that Hunter created above are really interesting to me because they are composed excellently and seem to have a lot of thought put into them. When I look at them I want to know more about the people, and the story that could be behind the scenarios in the photographs.
Recreating paintings using studio lights
This is mine and my groups recreation of the painting. The camera position is at eye level and the angle view is narrow, I had to zoom and be closer to the girls to get the correct angle and make sure it is to frame as the original image. The orientation is landscape and the tone is full colour. The composition wasn't difficult to meet and framing the image was particularly easy as I just had to make sure the fabric looked similar, their heads were close enough with no gap between them and that their facial features were somewhat standing out the same. The style is posed. The original painting is called 'the lovers' by Rene Magritte and we chose to recreate is as it correlated to the theme we were going for, disguised portraits.
Rhiannon Adam
She is a photographic artist born in ireland.
Photoshop
photoshop collage
Hanna Lenz
Hanna Lenz is a photographer who lives in Hamburg, Germany, and works as a photographer for different editorial departments. She also produces her own projects by creating portraits and documentary photography.
I personally like this particular project of Hanna Lenz's as usually you do not see photographers presenting the older generation. These images give you insight into this ladys house as there are images containing her, her home and how she lives. Another reason i like this project is because Hanna Lenz uses different household areas and objects and composes them well to create intriguing images. This may create an effect of questioning in peoples minds as they may start to think about things like: what is the lady doing? and where is she walking to? How old is she? Whats her story? Does she live on her own? How did she get to where she is today?
I personally like this particular project of Hanna Lenz's as usually you do not see photographers presenting the older generation. These images give you insight into this ladys house as there are images containing her, her home and how she lives. Another reason i like this project is because Hanna Lenz uses different household areas and objects and composes them well to create intriguing images. This may create an effect of questioning in peoples minds as they may start to think about things like: what is the lady doing? and where is she walking to? How old is she? Whats her story? Does she live on her own? How did she get to where she is today?
Julian Germain
Julian Germain was born in London in 1962. He studied at Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham, and the Royal College of Art, London. He works as a photographer and is interested in the documentation of diverse social groups.
He often utilises vernacular photographs, which he collects from archives. One thing i love about Germain's images is that through them all you can see a lot of emotion and meaning through the subjects, faces, and gestures. The pride in the mans face shows he is very happy to be showing his work and the creations of images. You can tell that he loves colour and vibrance and is very creative, his houses wallpaper matches the flowers he is holding giving off a nice complimentary colour palette.
He often utilises vernacular photographs, which he collects from archives. One thing i love about Germain's images is that through them all you can see a lot of emotion and meaning through the subjects, faces, and gestures. The pride in the mans face shows he is very happy to be showing his work and the creations of images. You can tell that he loves colour and vibrance and is very creative, his houses wallpaper matches the flowers he is holding giving off a nice complimentary colour palette.
Extended project
The artist i am using as inspiration is Nico Froehlich. My starting point will be taking candid photographs when I am out inspired by his work. Photographing my environment, where i grew up and where I am currently living will be my focus. I will use this focus and add face value to it by photographing people in these environments, either people i know or strangers around me.