Module Two, Week Two: Portraiture – Part One

I missed this weeks lecture so, let’s see how this goes…

TLDR:
Portraits aren’t just “Person Picture”.

We are jumping into this pit blind. All I have is the wise notes from Dan. Let’s see how this goes.

We’re to look at the “Theme of Portraiture“.

Why do lecturers have to be so vague all the time? But I digress, let’s get cracking and start with the basics.

What is Portraiture?

If you’re after my answer, I would say it’s “a picture showing a person”. It what portraits were historically which I’d assume means it follows the same rules.

That being said, when I covered this topic in Foundation Year, I wasn’t even sure some of my images came under the right umbrella.

Left, yes. That’s portraiture. It’s literally a picture of me. On the right though, I’d would class it but only just. It’s more of an artistic piece than a portrait.

From this, let’s look at what the answer actually is. I thought it was as cut and dry as “Person Picture” but boy, was I wrong!

The first place I went to was my bookshelf. I cracked out what has been dubbed “The Photography Bible”. It’s a copy of “The Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Photography“. It got me through a lot of Foundation Year and has been a saving grace.

According to Thames and Hudson, Portrait Photography is:

The use of photography to record and communicate a sitters appearance and personality. The photographic portrait has been an important genre since the invention of the medium, and it differs from other genres by the sheer diversity of its application.

_{^{page 325, Portrait Photography Entry}}

I wasn’t wrong but I wasn’t right. It used to be but now, with developments and other photographers pushing the boundaries, it’s become a lot more.

A quick call

Chatting away with Mum one night, I asked her about her thoughts with Portraiture. We ended up down another rabbit hole, talking about where it came from and what it means. She enlightened me to the power it held during the American West Expansion, the Cowboys and the Civil War. I asked how she knew this to which her simple response was “Grandad really liked his John Wayne films”.

We were still stuck in the same mindset, Portrait means head and shoulders photo, like your school picture day. We ended up both looking into this and at what point does a piece stop being portraiture and start being something else. This led us to an article from The Met:

Portrait shows the character, not just the physical being. This opens a whole new realm to work with and to investigate.

American Influence

Mum mentioning this sent me down a weird path, looking into the daguerreotype and the influence it caused across America in the 1840’s. To recap this bit, it arrived over from France and exploded in popularity due to its accessible nature. During the expansion into the west, it would be used to document their journeys, findings and people they’d meet. During the Civil War, it was used to keep track of soldiers, update “Wanted” posters and generally keep track of life.

When having an image taken, it was in a Portrait style. Head and shoulders, sometimes full body, recording a persons likeness or a major event in their lives.

Moving away from the daguerreotype, portraiture continued being used in documenting historic events in American history.

During the American Great Depression between 1929 and 1939, photographers also began taking photos of families and individuals suffering from this economic disaster in order to expose the world to the very real suffering migrant workers and low-income families were experiencing every day.

Source

At this point, I believe it starts crossing over into Document Photography and away from portraiture. Or can the two be one in the same?

Personal Interest: Cosplay

I owe a lot to Cosplayers. It’s thanks to them that I found my love for Photography again. When I came across a book in the Library called “Kids of Cosplay” by Thurstan Redding, it opened a new perspective.

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Building on his fascination, Redding decided to create a portrait series of cosplayers. Over the next three years he found himself slowly ingraining himself in the community, taking hundreds of portraits of people in their extravagant costumes and makeup. Now a number are presented in his debut monograph Kids of Cosplay – a vibrant glimpse into the detail, flair and effort cosplayers put into their characters.

Source

Cosplayers never get the recognition they deserve for the hard work they put into their costumes. I have seen first hand how gruelling and soul-crushing it can be. Seeing a collection like this, focusing on their talent and skills, its wonderful!

Personally, some of the styling isn’t for me. The message it’s telling, the world it’s showing is 100% my cuppa!

I’d never made the correlation that the work I’d been doing previously was classed as Portraiture. It’s so clear now, I’m surprised I’d not realised sooner. This may be something that I delve into for Part Two of this project.

A Quick Break

At this point I was happy to start working on Part Two of this project. I had enough in my brain to start building ideas and a plan. That and I was very quickly running out of time.

That being said, there were more aspects of portrait photography I wanted to look at and delve into. Maybe not the literal Photography aspect but the impact it’s had.

Lifestyle Portrait Photography

With the idea I was working on, it felt more like a Family Portrait or Lifestyle Portrait. This then led me down a road of is a Lifestyle Portrait an actual thing and, if so, what does it mean?

I ended up in an article from Format that spoke about the difference between Lifestyle and Portrait Photography. Personally I’d say they’re one in the same but where do our opinions differ?

The article goes on to talk about posing, location and lighting, insisting that Portrait photography is of a single person where Lifestyle speaks of a collective in a natural environment, not staged.

This goes completely against our statement from Halina earlier on in The Met who argues that Portraits are not just of a person but of a character or emotion a person feels.

This whole article goes against everything we’ve spoken of up to this point. If I was writing an essay and needed an opposing viewpoint, it would be this. However, at this point it’s stating that lifestyle or candid images aren’t classed as portraits.

After reading on a bit, I noticed this whole article is about how to advertise and sell being a “Lifestyle Photographer” and I think that’s why it’s taken this stance. A minor exemption but an exemption none the less.

Becca Jean Photography

The best, non-bias, explanation of what I was looking for was from a Photographers own website, talking about her work. A personal favourite from this post is:

I love the fact she’s not afraid to say she hates the term portrait and even covers the fact it crosses into document Photography.

Without sounding like Hannah Montana, lifestyle is the best of both worlds, both portrait and document. It creates the story while still showing the people. I absolutely adore this.

Looking into Becca Jean more, I can see that our methodology of taking shots is very similar, create a natural and comfortable environment and see what happens. I hate how stiff some shoots can be and try to get natural reactions from my subjects/sitters.

Animal Portraits

Unsurprisingly, part two of this ended up focusing around Koda. But after the events of Module One, I wanted to find some pointers and guides for working with animals, especially in a natural setting.

My own personal issue is that Koda is half husky and has the stubbornness of one, picking and choosing when he wants to do as he’s told. When I say he has the attitude of a teenager, I really mean it.

Floofy Studios

I follow a lot of random photographers on Instagram and this reminded me of one I absolutely love.

Let me introduce you to Floofy Studios.

View this post on Instagram

To remove the issue of handling the dog and relying on their ability to sit still, they work with toys and treats to get more natural responses. I wonder if I could try this with Koda one day. Not this time around but later down the line.

View this post on Instagram

Nigel Danson

I came across Danson when looking into Pet Photography. He was sponsored by Nikon to create a video about Pet Photography with his springer spaniel, Pebble. To quote:

This is what I was looking for. Advice on how best to photograph animals, specifically dogs, without forcing them to stay sat in one place (as I did for Module One).

He talks about being at the dogs eye level, not ours. Capturing their behaviours and movements, even going on to talk about his own experiences working with Pebble and worked for them. This style of activity is a massive amount of stimulation for dogs and can tire them our very quickly. For some dogs, when tired, their responsiveness to training completely goes out the window.

Something I should really take note of going into part two.

Selfie Era ^{_{(Rant Warning)}}

I hate Instagram.

I say that, after I spend hours doom scrolling on it and falling into the short-form media spiral. But it’s still true. I hate the world sites like Instagram have created. The need to show your life and your story. The fake personas people put on, all aiming to be an “Influencer”. The filters and edits people make and now, with the help of AI, the lies they tell.

I will admit, I fell victim to that ideology when I was a teen. Always updating and posting on social media but as an adult, I couldn’t care less. I think some of that stems from my own self-confidence and perception. I’d rather be behind the camera than infront of it. Whereas, my sister for example, has always been photogenic and loves showcasing her experiences and story through this manner.

A new perspective?

At this point in writing, I realised my viewpoint was rather negative against this topic so thought it may be wise getting other viewpoints from different age brackets, generations and backgrounds.

As I do with anything “interview-y”, I started with my Mum.

Mum, Gen X, 50-60, Office Management

Why do you take selfies?

To me, a selfie is a memory of a special occasion. I took selfies of your dad and I when we went touring around Europe. I wanted the memory of where we’d been. I’ve got them at the top of Mt Etna, in Pompeii, all over the place. It was to remember the moment and to capture it. Somewhere I love, with people that I love. I’ve never been one to take a selfie because I’ve got a new top or new bronzer.

Thinking about me and my sister, what’s your look on our respective opinions on Selfies?

You [Rosie] were someone who preferred taking the photo than being in it. You’ve always been like that. You tried to follow your sister with the whole trends thing but it never stuck. Yes, [Sister] takes more but she’s one to show her experiences and memories with family and friends. Mine will stay in my photo bank, yours end up in the group chat thread and hers will stay on her news feed. It’s no different than the photo albums we all got growing up.

You need to remember though, [Sister] is a google baby, born as the internet started. She fell for it all as we, the parents, had no idea what was going on. For you, it was as we started understanding it and knowing the dangers of it.

What’s your thoughts on Selfies as a whole?

It’s no different than when we used to ask someone to take a photo of us when we were out. Only now I don’t need to worry about someone running off with my camera. The photos I’ve got of me and my grandson wouldn’t of happened if it wasn’t for selfies. It’s so much easier to get a photo with a toddler when you’re in control of it.

Sophie, Millennial, 30-40, Livestock Farmer

Do you take selfies? Why?

Yes, to document how old I look and the changes of myself through time. I don’t take them to go “hey, look at me”. The majority of them are awful photos that will never see the light of day, to document what’s going on around me.

Do you post them on social media?

Rarely. I’m not one for social media and to be honest, not many of them make the grade. I don’t want the world to see that.

What are your thoughts on selfies as a whole?

I’m not sure I have a specific viewpoint, there are very different niches that I have opinions on but overall, no not really. From snapchat, it’s everyone putting on a mask and we’re a bit buggered if that all goes. The people that take a selfie everyday are just portraying themselves in a fake light. It’s the same smile, the same effects, same. same. same. It’s trying to make themselves something they’re not that inevitably makes other people hate themselves. It’s all fake and an act.

Charlie, Gen Z, 18-25, Teaching & Pastoral Staff

What do you think about Selfies?

I like them. Not the filters though. The whole snapchat craze was one I hated with a passion. Where everyone would only post photos of them with those stupid filers. The dog one, the flower crown, they’re all just stupid. It’s all anyone ever did. It’s just as bad on dating apps. Trying to see what someone actually looked like and they’re all just covered it filters. Felt like they were catfishing.

Do you take selfies?

Yeah, usually when I’m feeling good about myself or I’ve done my [SFX] makeup really well. Ironically, I used to post them on social media a lot but now, I only really send them to my partner or to a few close friends.

What do you think of the whole “Selfie” thing?

I have this friend who tried creating this whole Instagram persona, the whole influencer aesthetic and even tried dragging it into real life. It soon came crumbling down around them and they couldn’t keep up the façade. I understand it to some extent but when people are like that, it’s just fake.

Generally speaking, we all have the same correlation between selfies and social media. They’re creating a fake life. But it was something Mum said that stuck with me:

…a selfie is a memory of a special occasion…

I look back at the selfies I’ve taken in the last few years and they’ve all been of special occasions, when I’m feeling confident or even just to record what happened. I too fell into the snapchat phase and used the filters to hide what I actually looked like and I think that’s created one of the problems I’m working hard to fix later on in my life. My own perspective of myself is messed up.

I have the Google Hub in the office. I have it set up to roll through photos of our friends and family. As I type this, this one came up:

I can tell you when both were taken. The left, the day we both qualified for our Costco Memberships in 2021. We were over the moon! The right is from visiting Ed’s parents at Christmas 2023 and he’d caught me hiding out the back, having a vape and escaping the carnage.

It’s easier for me to tell when our photos are from based on my hair colour but they’re always memories and a bit of fun for us to look back on. A lot of mine and Ed’s selfies are just of our foreheads or something stupid like that.

I wouldn’t say that I post on social media to tell a story, sell a lie or even just for the giggles. Nowadays I only really post my photography work or a MAJOR occasion in my life. I posted our engagement photos on Facebook but I have that thing on lockdown so no one outside of my family and friends can see it.

Phone Photography

On a weird upside, the creation of the front facing camera and selfies, has changed portraits from something that used to be so expensive and isolated, to being easily accessible. It has however, twisted the viewpoint on photography as a whole.

Everyone is a photographer now.

With the power of Samsung and Apple in their back pockets (or in my case, Google), anyone can get a high-quality image like it’s nothing. You see all across the internet the “Phone Photographers” who specialise in using phones, expecting the high level of quality of a DSLR. Annoyingly, they’re not far off achieving that reality.

Call me old fashioned but I’m falling in love with the 35mm Camera and have always loved my DSLR. Phones are for ~~ignoring~~ calls, ~~never~~ responding to messages and occasionally playing wordle.

Other Random Finds

The Family of Man – Edward Steichen,

I came across this when looking through the “Photography Bible” for terms like “Lifestyle” and “Family”. Instead, I found mention of an exhibition that was put together by the Director at the MoMa in New York. To quote:

A total of 503 images (mainly documentary) from 68 different countries presented a portrait of humanity in which each individual shared the same concerns as his fellow human being…

In 2003, the collection of images was listed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. The original edition of the exhibition catalogue has been reprinted regularly since 1995.

^{Page 152-153, “Family of Man, The”}

As is now tradition when a printed piece is mentioned, I hit up the UCLAN database and found a copy of it was available. Sadly with the weather, I won’t be able to get to it for a few days but I’m hoping to see it. This has piqued my interest and has me asking a few questions. That and there isn’t a digital copy available anywhere and, ideally, I’d like to not pirate this.

Update

Unfortunately, I’ve not been able to get back to Uni before the deadline. With this, I’m still going to look into it but at a later date. As I said, I’d like to look at the whole thing, not just pieces across the internet.

Final Thoughts

I write this as I’ve wrapped up both parts of this project. Looking back on my notes, my research and everything I’ve taken away from this, I see my stand on portrait has changed. Before it was as simple as “Person Picture” but now, it’s twisted into “Character”. Recording a moment or a making a statement.

Humanity as a whole has become so self absorbed to the point we know our own faces better than anyone in history. It’s time we start looking at ourselves at a character and personality aspect instead of the literal. Internally instead of externally.

It’s projects like this that make me grateful I studies sociology. Looking at the societal aspects of something as simple as photography is quite an interesting hole to fall down.

AlphaRose Photography