W3 - Portraiture

Portraiture Task

Below are some photos I took of my friend. I wanted to use natural light and shadows to compliment her face.







Reading: Bate 2009, photography, the key concepts, berg

Portraiture is central to the historical development of photography as a commercial industry.
They are used to identify different sections of the population. A viewer can implant their own feelings in a portrait.

August Sander, 1876 - 1964
People of the Twentieth Century
Began in the early 1920's, a series of portraits that aimed to document contemporary German society.
600 photographs, 7 categories.



Bricklayer, 1928              Young farmers, 1914

'to see things as they are and not as they should be.'


Diane Arbus, 1923 - 1971
Originally worked as a fashion photographer
Late 1950s started making more personal work.


'things which nobody would see unless I photographed them'

Portraits of transvestites, dwarves and other people whose appearance and/or lifestyle placed them at outside the conventional society. Presenting them with dignity while seemingly 'normal' people appear in a strange way. Often using a flash even in the day, to make these portraits seem theatrical.