It’s the beginning of a new subject and I’m approaching it with renewed vigour. This may be because I want to work as a portrait photographer so the interest is already there. I’m excited at the prospect of learning new things and ultimately improving my portrait photography to a professional level.
Exercise 1, Part One:
The first task for me was to read through some books or magazines and study the way portrait images are composed to echeive different outcomes. As I’m eager to make a start even though I hadn’t received delivery of my recommended books from the reading list, I reached for some old faithful’s; The Genius of Photography by Gerry Badger and The Photograph by Graham Clarke. I used these books for my first course ‘The Art of Photography’.
In the Genius of Photography there are two full body portraits by the portraitist August Sander (1876-1964) which give two very differnt outcomes which is largly due to the different backgrounds, clothing, pose and position of the camera. I’ll explain my thoughts:
‘Young Farmers on Their Way to a Dance’
The background tells us that these men were walking to a destination as they are standing on a path and their feet are pointing in the direction of the path. These men have been ‘stopped in their tracks’. Their clothing is smart which suggests they are on their way to a special social occassion. Their props, walking sticks, are further evidence of their walk. What makes this photo so great is the almost startled look of the mens faces. It’s as if August had crept up behind them, camera ready and stepped on a twig gaining his subjects attention. This seems like a one of perfect moment in time. The man to the left hasn’t even had time to remove the cigarette from his mouth. Their position, with their bodies still pointing in the direction they are walking is natural and unposed which are the best and most intriguing types of portraits to me. This photograph has a slightly sinister look too and I think this acheived by the placing of the horizon line running through the gentlemans necks making the top third of the photograph shows purely the mens heads which makes me think of mafia related activities. Also the twisted heads and severe uncomfortable gaze of the eyes seem almost disapproving and sceptical. Having said that there’s nothing awkward about this photograph. The middle man has his other hand visible in a relaxed candid manner. I’m trying to imagine where August had positioned himself and his camera. The mens feet and bodies look slightly abnormally bigger in proportion to their heads so it would suggest the perspective is lower down than the mens faces but this is a personal view. With a wide angle lens the closer you are to the lens the more disproportionate you seem in relation to whats behind. This photograph has a lot to say.
‘Boxers’
This is a complete contrast to ‘Young Farmers on Their Way to a Dance’. the background is neutral and doesn’t give a clue to it’s location although the men are clearly dressed in boxing attire and therefore we can assume there at a boxing venue. This photograph is staged with a rigid stand up straight, feet together, arms by your side, look at the camera style. The lighting is good on the boxers which for an indoor photograph suggests lighting was used. The boxers are smiling and clean so it’s apparent the fight hasn’t taken place yet. There’s no mystery surrounding this portrait, it simply is what it is, a portrait of two boxers before their fight.
Whilst looking through ‘The Photograph’ by Graham Clarke I came across a portrait by David Hill and Robert Adamson entitled,
‘Baiting the Line’
This was of particular interest to me because it’s unusual for a portrait to have the face obscurred which in this case is by the shade from the mans hat.However in this composition the mans torso and bellow the waist is included in the frame to show the hands. The hands are well lit and are holding a piece of line which draws the eyes straight to it. When I first started studying photography my tutor was insistant the the eyes should always be visible in a portrait to which I strongly disagreed with and this is a perfect example why.
I will now produce a portrait set of my own which will be shown in Part Two.
Sam Bennett 