What is a self-portrait?
Self-Portraiture in photography, is when you take a photograph with the main subject of the photo is the same person who is taking the photo. Generally, it doesn't mean that your face has to be in it, it just has to include a part of you e.g your hand. It can be a painting or a photograph.
What is genre in photography.
A genre is a style or category/type of photograph, it creates a sense of expectation in the photograph. For example, in the genre of portraiture, the main subject your looking at is the person in the photo.
The elements of a portraiture usually made up of four key elements;
The elements of a portraiture usually made up of four key elements;
- Face- including facial expressions, hair etc
- Pose or stance- manner and attitude
- Clothing- social class, sex, cultural values or fashion
- Location-(or background)- social scene of the person in the photograph.
Portraiture in Photography
I don't personally remember the first initial time I first saw a portrait photograph, but I would have probably seen either one of myself or someone in my family. If it was somebody in my family, it would've most likely have been one of my sisters since my mom used to take lots of photos of us when we were younger and got them printed out into a book so we could look back on them when we were older. All the photographs are in a book that my mom keeps in her closet. If I were to describe the photos in a few words, I would probably describe it as old and lively seeing as we were all kids. I think that since the photos go back to around 2005, photography has definitely advanced since those photos were taken because they were on old quality electronics.
My favourite portrait of me is probably one that my older sister took of me on holiday in Sweden, it was a photo of my back with my graphic jumper. (photo on the left) The reason why it's my favourite portrait, is that it doesn't include my face, it is also sort of distorted since it was of me walking at night. |
Compare and Contrast
The similarities between these two photographs are that they both have little scratches around the subject (or themselves). They are both self portraits of each other as well. In addition, the differences between them are that Hippolyte's self portrait has a name which you can see as a drowned man, he has modelled as a drowned man whilst Cornelius hasn't role-played as anything and just simply took a self portrait of himself standing up in front of the camera. I think that the reason the two photographs are different colours because they may have used two different camera's or printed them differently, I don't think it had anything to do with the way they took it mainly what they used to take and develop the photograph. Maybe the reason that Cornelius's portrait is only capturing his head and shoulders may be because he could've positioned his camera onto a high surface that was above his waist, or he may have done it on purpose because he didn't want to capture his lower half. I think that maybe the reason Bayard portrait is off him laying down, may be because he was posing as a drowned man so he wanted to give the idea that he was laying unconscious on the ground. From Cornelius's photo, I would say that he looks like the type of person who lives a simple life, I feel like he wouldn't play around with photography and would take quite basic and simple photographs. However, from Bayard's portrait, I would say he's the complete opposite of Cornelius and that he seems like the type of person who plays around with photography and would instead of taking basic plain photographs of himself, he would pose as different characters. Again from the photograph, it seems like Cornelius looks like a wealthy man. Maybe he wouldn't be the wealthiest, but it is obvious he has money from the suit he is wearing as it seems to be a quite looked after suit. Whilst, from Bayard's portrait, it doesn't seem like he's very wealthy but seeing as he had enough to afford a camera he probably was quite wealthy as he has different props in the background. If I could question the two photographers; for Cornelius I would ask what gave him the idea to take the portrait in the first place, and what was he thinking about when taking it. For Bayard, I would question what gave him the idea to pose as a drowned man and what were the meaning behind the props he used. I personally prefer Bayard's portrait in comparison to Cornelius since Bayard is roleplaying as a character which brings a story to the portrait, he also includes props whilst Cornelius doesn't.
Environmental Portraiture
We went around the school asking people if we could take photographs of them, whilst we were taking the photos we thought about framing, lighting and making sure our photos were vertical. The reason I chose the photo on the bottom left is because I liked the way the colour's all contrasted each other, and how the lighting was focused on the guy in the red jumper. I chose the top right photo because I liked the way the green writing on the crate matched with the boys blue jumper. I also liked the way the background fit in with the boy. I chose the middle photo on the first row because I liked how the photo was a candid and how the background fit around the boy nicely. I chose the first photo because I liked how it was a candid photo and how the girls walked nearly in sync and how the background fit. I picked the middle. photo in the last row because I liked how the boys green jacket contrasted with the light brick wall behind him
Nico Froelich- Compare and Contrast
These are my three favourite photographs by Nico Froelich. I chose the first photograph because I enjoyed the way the dishwashers were parralel with each other and how the different colours (the flooring, the dishwashers) contrast with each others. The first photo gives of a sense of calm with the colours, since the colours are low and aren't bright. The difference between the first photo and the second, is that there isn't any empty space apart from the small walkway in the first photo. Whilst in the second, theres nothing going on, there isnt anything else apart from the walls and the window. The reason I picked the second photo is because I liked the way the colours sort of matched eachother and how the framing looks with the corner and the background framed windows. I picked the third photograph because I liked the way the title looked like it was sort of floating above the windows, how Nico focused the photograph to capture the inside of the shop rather than the outside.
The relationships between portraits in art and portraits in photography
The photo on the left is a painting drawn in the years of 1657-1659 by Johannes Vermeer, who was a dutch painter. It is a painting of what it looks to be a medieval women reading a note . She is standing by the window with a thin sheet of paper, besides her is what it looks to be either a table or bed with a basket of fruits on top.
The photo on the right is a photograph taken by Tom Hunter, who's intention was on replicating the painting .
The photo on the right is a photograph taken by Tom Hunter, who's intention was on replicating the painting .
There are alot of similarities between the two portraits, for example they both include a women standing by the window reading a thin beige sheet of paper. They both include what it looks to be a table or bed with an object/person ontop of it. Both of the women are wearing a shade of green with dark bottoms. The main source of light in the two portraits are both from the window infront of the women. Although there are some similarities, there are also differences. For example, the portrait on the left includes a basket of fruits whilst the portrait on the right includes a baby dressed in red and blue. The window on the left is opened and has frames whilst the portrait on the right has the window closed with no frames. In the corner of the portrait on the left, it has the top of what it looks to be a chair whilst there is no chair in the right. In the photo on the left, there is a green curtain hanging on the right whilst on the right portrait, there is no curtain. I think Tom Hunter was influenced by the portrait by Vermeer because it is truly a beautiful portrait, the angle of the women shows of her dress and her side profile including her hair. It shows what type of clothes people in the Medieval Times would wear/ how they would do their hair. The visual elements in the portrait are the colours, shape,texture and size. For example, you can see on Vermeer's portrait, he painted the wall quite rough with different colours for shadows. The portrait by Hunter has been visibly zoomed in making the main subject of the portrait the women whilst Vermeer has his quite spaced out so there isn't really a main subject as there are many different parts. The lighting of the painting has been tilted to capture not only the wome, but also the wall behind her. Whilst the lighting of the photograph is mainly on the women, and some are on the table besides her.
Portrait Recreation
The photo on the right was taken by Caravaggio and he named it The Saint Jerome. It had taken a while to take the photograph initially because we were trying to get the lighting and background to match the most since we had enough props. For example, in our photo you can see what it looks to be a slit in the background because since we didn't have a plain black wall we had to improvise with getting two large sheets of black paper and sticking them on the wall behind us. In Caravagggio's photograph, the light is mainly hitting the man on the left side of his body whilst in our photograph the light in mainly coming from behind our character. The reason it was hitting our character on the back was due to the large windows behind us. If I was to take these photographs i would find a plain black wall or stick the papers together so there isn't a slit, I would also change the position of our subject so that the light is hiiting him in the front instead of the back.
Tyler Mitchell
Tyler Mitchell is an American photographer who has worked with various different artists like Tyler The Creator, Calvin Klein and many others. His work is mainly presenting a vision of Black Beauty, desire and belonging. For his project called Chrysalis he has introduced photographs of subjects in nature, mainly shot in New York and London.
Here are some of the photos I took at the Chrysalis Gallery, and The Photographers Gallery.
On the 11th October 2022, we are visiting Tyler Mitchell's exhibition in the Gagosian Art Gallery; I chose the first photograph because I enjoyed how the boys body was reflected in the water, and how in the reflection his body looks sort of distorted around his legs because of the ripples in the water. I chose the second photo because i liked how the image was symetrical and it was nicely framed so the bed was in the middle of the photograph. I chose the third photo because I liked how the footprints looked and how they had multiple different colours.
Chris Killip- inspired photographs
Chris Killip was a manx photographer who worked at Harvard University. Killip is known for his monochrome photographs which is mainly focused on people and places. Today we tried our best to take photos inspired by these photogtraphs by Killip.
Portraiture in Photography-Breaking the conventions
Vivian Maier; The Self-Portrait 1954Vivienne Maier was an American Street Photographer, whose work was discovered after her death. Two years prior to her death, Maier was behind in rent and was then forced to have her negatives, prints and various other photographs sold at an auction sale. These photographs were found by many different American photographers including one named John Maloof. He bought dozens of Maier's works for his book on Chicago, but once he found out who the mystery woman was, she had already been reported dead. Maier's work is mainly black and white which doesn't ever include her face, although they are still considered to be self portraits because some of his body is included in the photograph.
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Cindy Sherman; United Film Still 1978Sherman is an American artist whose work mainly focuses on photographic self-portraits, depicting herself in many different contexts and as various imagined characters. Shermans work on the 'United Film Still' is focused on black and white images which include the artist herself dressing up in varous different characters which include characters like a working girl or a lonely housewife. These are staged to ressemble scenes from the 1950's/60's Hollywood movies. Sherman's portrait 'United Film Still 21' is considered to be Shermans most famous portrait , she is dressed up to portray a 1950's housewife . The camera is positioned to be looking up at her so it can capture the buildings in the background.
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Vivian Maier portrait recreation
Cindy Sherman portrait recreation
Viviane Sassen Cluster 2013 and Vivian Maier NY 1953
Viviane Sassen
Vivian Maier
Compare and Contrast
There are many similarities and differences between the two photographs. Some of the similarities include that they both include the formal elements of lines. For example, the photo on the left uses lines on the walls behind the women whilst Maier uses the lines on the building. A second similarity is that the main light source for both photographs are from the outdoors. A final similarity could be that there are two women in the photograph. There are many differences in the two photographs as well. For example, the photo on the left is in the natural colour whilst Maier has changed the photograph to be in black and white. In the photo on the right, Maier has included the camera in the photograph, this was probably achieved by using a mirror, whilst the photo on the left doesn't include one at all. It seems as though the photo on the left has been taken indoors as you can see what it looks to be reflections from the window whilst the photo on the right has been done outdoors.
Genre in photography
These are the sub-genres that I focused my photographs with;
- Identification
- Self portraits
- Family snapshots
- Police mugshots
Evaluation
In the first photograph, I didn't focus on face too much as I wanted to mainly get the focus of the photo to be the height difference between everyone as it goes down the line whereas on the second photo it was pretty hard to get everyone focused onto one camera. The third photograph is well focused as everyones looking at the camera with smiles which also adds onto the fact that it's a family portrait. The fourth photo doesn't include my face whilst the last isn't clear as I wanted the girl to portray a prisoner behind bars. The last photograph is posing behind bars to emphasise the genre of police mugshots. We used props in the third photo to create a sense of fun and laughter. We also used a prop in the second photo to portray the fact that the boys are posing as a football team.
Art and Photography; Saint Jerome in Meditation by Caravaggio 1605
We recreated the painting of Saint Jerome in meditation which was taken by Caravaggio in 1605.
Amalia Ulman and Vivian Maier
The similarities between these photographs include; they are both holding some source of camera, they're both taking a photo of their reflection, they're both wearing some sort of headpiece. The differences between the two is that Maier's photograph is in black and white whilst Ulman's isnt. Maier is wearing more old fashioned clothing whilst Ulman's is more modern. Maier has taken her photograph outdoors whilst Ulman has taken it indoors.
Studio Light Experiments
For this lighting workshop we experimented with different sort of lights and where we would angle them to perfect or recreate a photograph further.
-Recreation of a piece of famous artwork.
The Lovers II by Rene Margritte that was publsihed in 1928. Its an oil on canvas depicting two lovers locked in an embrance. Magritte presented two figures with their faces covered by a white cloth. The lovers are the primary object and the one that adds the most mystery and intrigue. The camera has been positioned to show more of the background behind the women. In the lesson today we experimented with studio lights and recreated the painting. We positioned the light to the left of the camera so that the light was hitting the left persons face more than the rights. The camera was positioned above the waist so that the main subject of the photo would be the two faces. The light was positioning really illuminated the cloths especially because the left one was silk so it gave a rich sort of feel. Although the photographs have different coloured/textured cloths and a different background, I think with what we had that lesson we did a pretty good job. It was a bit hard to pefect the cloths as we didnt have the same exact colours/patterns.
Alternative Portraiture Research
This photograph was taken by Roger Ballen in the Tate collection of Ballens series, Outland, around 1995 and 2000.
In the collection Outland, the photographs have a disturbing tableaux, and Ballen takes photographs with people in awkward/unusual poses to achieve this uncomfotable view. This portrait was named 'Cat Catcher' and it shows a young boy in scruffy dirty clothing with what it looks like to be a wired basket or maybe perhaps an animal trap, held above his head. The boy is shown holding the striped cat by its neck, making the cat visibly uncomfortable with the way its being held. The young boy is also standing with a smile on his face, by a dirty wall which may have been done to potray a young poor boy. |
This photograph was taken by Alessandra Sanguinetti, from the collection of The Adventures of Guille and Belinda.
The collection focuses on the story of two young cousins living in a rural province in Buenos Aires. Sanguinetti was drawn to the girls, whose evident affection for each other is magnified by their mismatched physique. Alessandra took these photos to 'crystalise their rich yet fragile and unattended world.' The main subject of the photograph seems to be the colour blue, as the walls, bed and even the mans clothing are blue. As the colour blue has connotation of sadness, it gives the photograph a deeper feel. |
Photographs influenced by The Adventures of Guille and Belinda - Alessandra Sanguinetti
Photoshopping Portrait Recreation
Photoshopping Photographs
Dark Room Experimentations; photograms
These are the different equitments we used to make our photograms. The chemicals we used developer, stop and fix. Whilst the machine was an enlarger.
Here are my edited versions of my original photograph using Photoshop
David Hockney
David Hockney is an English painter who is typically known more about his paintings rather than his photographs. Hockney created photo montages, which is the process and the result of making a composite photograph by cutting, gluing, rearranging and overlapping two or more photographs into a new image.
Compare and Contrast
The similarities between these photographs is that the colour of the kettles and the woman's shirt are around the same shade of blue. They both have a simple background that doesn't outshine the main subject of the photograph. The two photographs are also diptychs which are photographs that you can use to tell a story and emphasise contrasts. Although there are some similarities, there are also some differences. For example, in the photo on the left there is only one main subject; the woman whilst in the second photo there are a range of different objects like the two different kettles and the stove. On the first photo the light source seems to be some sort of electronic as its mainly shining on the top right whilst in the second photo the lighting seems to be more natural as the entire photograph is illuminated. The first photograph reminds me of how the body changes as it gets older, and how it makes life seem more fragile, this also links to the second photo as there seem to be glass objects which are also fragile as they break easy. What I like the most about the first photo is the way the woman is sitting with both hands placed on her knee, I like it because it presents how delicate the old woman is. What I like the most about the second photograph is how symmetrical it is and how the photograph is very equal. What I find a bit difficult to view on the first photograph is that just the thought of the old woman and how she is presented as fragile and delicate creates thoughts like what would happen if she fell or just things related to that subject. I feel like what makes these photographs go together is how they both use light colours for the main subject and more dull soft tones for the background objects. If I were to take photographs like this, I would use multiple objects that all link together in some way with my main subject in a light colour like blue or pink.
Julien Germain
Julian Germain's For every Minute you are angry you lose sixty Seconds of Happiness focuses on the life of Charles Snelling, an elderly man in Portsmouth. Germain bases his work on the life of Charlie, with the old memories of his late wife. The images include family albums, linking to delicate family memories with Snelling's late wife.
“Published in 2005, For Every Minute You Are Angry You lose Sixty Seconds of Happiness by Julian Germain is a collection of 42 colour plates of a single subject, Charlie Snelling, an elderly gentleman living alone in a small house in Portsmouth. Germain first met Charlie by chance in 1992 and for the next eight years, until Charlie’s death in 2000, he visited him on a regular basis and, on some visits, just had tea but on others built up an intimate record of a man and his relationship with his environment. Charlie had lost Betty his wife some years earlier but he maintained a close link with her through his treasured collection of photographic memories. This is not a sad book, far from it, Charlie is alone but not lonely, he is surrounded by the things he loves, the photographs of his life with Betty, his colourfully decorated house and his small garden and greenhouse. Germain says that he just got on with life taking pleasure from these things."
-Steve Middlehurst, Identity and Place
-Steve Middlehurst, Identity and Place
Hannah Lenz 'Else'
Lenz photographs are linked to the life of an elderly woman living in Denmark, in a flat that is full of memories.
“Ninety-seven is an age to which you don’t congratulate. You shouldn’t become older than ninety at all!“ Else said, when photographer Hanna Lenz met her for the first time, a few days after her 97. Birthday.
“Today Else is 100 years old. She has been living in her two-room apartment in Aarhus, Denmark for 58 years now. Everything in this flat has its place and memories connected to it. And, to Else, everything in this 5th floor apartment tells a story. A little helping network makes it possible for Else to still live under her own roof and not having to move to a retirement home.
Nowadays Else spends most of her time sitting in her favourite chair by the window. She takes a lot of naps and in between follows her thoughts and memories. Not very long ago Else was reading book after book in this chair. But recently her eyes have become so bad that not even the huge magnifying glass, which she inherited from a departed neighbour, can make things better. Instead she now listens to the radio. It is on the highest volume all day long and keeps Else up to date with the world news or plays classical music for her."
-Caroline Kurz Ignant
“Today Else is 100 years old. She has been living in her two-room apartment in Aarhus, Denmark for 58 years now. Everything in this flat has its place and memories connected to it. And, to Else, everything in this 5th floor apartment tells a story. A little helping network makes it possible for Else to still live under her own roof and not having to move to a retirement home.
Nowadays Else spends most of her time sitting in her favourite chair by the window. She takes a lot of naps and in between follows her thoughts and memories. Not very long ago Else was reading book after book in this chair. But recently her eyes have become so bad that not even the huge magnifying glass, which she inherited from a departed neighbour, can make things better. Instead she now listens to the radio. It is on the highest volume all day long and keeps Else up to date with the world news or plays classical music for her."
-Caroline Kurz Ignant
Photographs inspired by Hannah Lenz and Julian Germain; Still Life Photographs
I had taken these photos for my still images because they all link to each other and are similar to the still life photos taken by Germain and Lenz.
Practical Activity,
For the practical activity we have to interview a classmate/family member and ask them a set of eight question, for example what their favourite hobby is or what they're favourite colour is. For my interview, I will be interviewing my older sister who is in college.
1- What is your favourite colour and why?
- 'Black because it goes with everything'
2- What is your favourite hobby and why?
-'Reading because it's peaceful,'
3- What are your plans for the future?
-'I would like to be a paramedic because I wanna feel like I'm in fast and furious whilst driving the ambulance, and because I want to help people'.
4-Who is your favourite sibling?
-'Sagal because we listen to the same style of music and have the same interests'
5- What's your favourite book you've read so far and why?
-'Looking for Alaska by John Green because of how mysterious the book is and the love drama. Its also a young adult fiction so it's very relatable'
6-What is your favourite book about
-'Looking for Alaska is narrated by a sixteen year old boy called Miles Halter, Miles 'Pudge' Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him cave 'The Great Perhaps' even more (Francois Rabelais, poet), he heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young, the gorgeous, clever, funny, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, she is an event unto herself, she pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into 'The Great Perhaps' and steals his heart …. then after. Nothing is ever the same.
7- What is on your bucket list?
- ' I want to go travel around the world after I've become a paramedic because I want to experience the whole world, and see all the beautiful cultures, taste all the beautiful food and experience something that could be once in a lifetime.'
8- What is your favourite movie and why?
-'My current favourite character is from a movie called Thirteen, which is about a thirteen-year-old Tracy gets involved in drugs, thefts and other forms of social misbehaviour after she meets Evie, her mother attempts to intervene and stop her lifestyle by separating the two. There's a tint in the movie that kind of portrays Tracy's life from before, during, and after she meets Evie. There's a neutral tint before she meets Evie, then it turns yellow to show manic and high, then the green tint shows the confusion and then the blue tint shows sadness and madness - the colour shows emotion and then when Tracy and Evie stop being friends and she gets close with her mother again the colour tint goes back to neutral.'
- 'Black because it goes with everything'
2- What is your favourite hobby and why?
-'Reading because it's peaceful,'
3- What are your plans for the future?
-'I would like to be a paramedic because I wanna feel like I'm in fast and furious whilst driving the ambulance, and because I want to help people'.
4-Who is your favourite sibling?
-'Sagal because we listen to the same style of music and have the same interests'
5- What's your favourite book you've read so far and why?
-'Looking for Alaska by John Green because of how mysterious the book is and the love drama. Its also a young adult fiction so it's very relatable'
6-What is your favourite book about
-'Looking for Alaska is narrated by a sixteen year old boy called Miles Halter, Miles 'Pudge' Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him cave 'The Great Perhaps' even more (Francois Rabelais, poet), he heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young, the gorgeous, clever, funny, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, she is an event unto herself, she pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into 'The Great Perhaps' and steals his heart …. then after. Nothing is ever the same.
7- What is on your bucket list?
- ' I want to go travel around the world after I've become a paramedic because I want to experience the whole world, and see all the beautiful cultures, taste all the beautiful food and experience something that could be once in a lifetime.'
8- What is your favourite movie and why?
-'My current favourite character is from a movie called Thirteen, which is about a thirteen-year-old Tracy gets involved in drugs, thefts and other forms of social misbehaviour after she meets Evie, her mother attempts to intervene and stop her lifestyle by separating the two. There's a tint in the movie that kind of portrays Tracy's life from before, during, and after she meets Evie. There's a neutral tint before she meets Evie, then it turns yellow to show manic and high, then the green tint shows the confusion and then the blue tint shows sadness and madness - the colour shows emotion and then when Tracy and Evie stop being friends and she gets close with her mother again the colour tint goes back to neutral.'