Looking atPortrait Photography

“Photographs are a link to the eternal”

from Photography, by London and Upton

Traditional Portraiture

Environmental Portraiture

Portraits using props/clothing

Portraits that rely on gesture

Portraits taken from the back

Portraits with shadows and reflections

Self-Portraits

Traditional Portraiture

- A straight forward approach to photographing a person with emphasis placed on the face of the subject.

- The object is to capture a physical likeness of the subject, as close to reality as possible.

Julia Margaret Cameron,Mrs. Herbert Duckworth, 1867

Sandy Edwards, from the bookParadise is a Place, 1997

Bob Gruen,John Lennon

Environmental Portraiture

- A portrait of a person taken in front of background or setting which helps to relay something meaningful about that person.

Arnold Newman,Piet Mondrian, 1942

Painting by Piet Mondrian

Bernd Lohse, Bookkeeper at the Minolta Company, Osaka, 1951

Arthur Tress, Boy in a Fire-Bombed Store 1969

Portraits using props/clothing

-Using an object or article of clothing that relates to your subject can help to convey something unique about that person.

Danny Lyon, Spanky and Cowboy 1965

Edward Steichen, Gloria Swanson, 1926

Arnold Newman, Igor Stravinsky, 1946

Portraits that rely on gesture

-By capturing your subject’s body language, i.e. a distinctive hand movement or facial expression, you can provide insight into the personality or profession of the individual you are photographing.

Yosef Karsh, Martha Graham, 1948

Roy DeCarava, Coltrane No.24, 1963

Alfred Stieglitz,Georgia O’Keeffe, 1920

Georgia O’Keeffe,Calla Lilies, 1923

Portraits from the back

-It is possible to create a meaningful rendering of a person without focusing on their face.

Onesipe Aguado,Woman Seen From the Back,1862

Imogen Cunningham,Jane and Alice and Imogen,1940

Portraits with shadows or reflections

-Using the many different qualities of light and shadow can help to add another layer of interest and depth to a photograph.

Lee Friedlander,New York City, 1960

Imogen Cunningham,Roi Partridge, 1922

Self-Portraits

-Alone with the camera, you can create an honest and revealing portrait of yourself.

Ilse Bing, Self-Portrait with Mirrors,1957

Ashley Knight-Greenfield,Self-Portrait, 2001

Whitney Hart, Self-Portrait, 2001

More Student Work

Yume Kitasei, Portrait of her Twin, 2001

Susannah Ludwig, Portrait of her Twin, 2001

Ariana Constant, Portrait of her Sister, 2001

Raffi Holznyc-Pimental,Portrait of his Brother, 2001

The End

Bibliography

Hirsch, Robert. Seizing The Light, A History of Photography. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2000.

London and Upton. Photography, Sixth Edition. New York: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers,Inc., 1998.

Philippi, Simone, editor. 20th Century Photography Museum Ludwig Cologne. Cologne, Germany: Taschen, 1996.

Mears and Edwards. Paradise Is A Place. Sydney, Australia: Random House, 1997.

Friedman and Friend. From Yesterday To Today, The Beatles. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1996.

Time-Life Editors. Life Library of Photography, Photographing Children. New York: Time-Life Books, 1971.

Hambourg, Apraxine, Daniel, Rosenheim, and Heckert. The Waking Dream, Photography’s First Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993.

Bibliography

Greenough and Hamilton. Alfred Stieglitz, Photographs and Writings. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1983.

Arrowsmith and West, editors. Georgia O’Keeffe & Alfred Stieglitz, Two Lives. New York: HarperCollins Publishers/Callaway Editions, 1992.

Wolf, Sylvia. Julia Margaret Cameron’s Women. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1998.

Friedlander, Lee. Lee Friedlander Photographs. New York: Haywire Press, 1978.

Galassi, Peter. Roy De Carava, A Retrospective. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1996.

Lorenz, Richard. Imogen Cunningham Portraits. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1997