Narrative Portraits: Assignment 4

The narrative style used in these images is presented in many different ways. It could be used in the props, facial expression, background... Each tells a story in its own special way. For example, the image of James Nachtwey, the subject is simply framed with a neutral background but the scars on the his face speak to us and tells us all about this tragedy. Or the image of all the neo-nazi teenagers, shows us what reality those people live in and how proud and ignorant they look... A narrative image could be constructed in many different techniques depending on the way the light is used and the shadows that are created in relation to the subject, or by the props used or the surrounding. Narrative is also based on the interaction between the main subject and the mood of the image overall.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55317317@N02/sets/72157625285358304/with/5134765052/

http://picasaweb.google.com/elkahi.r.dawson/NarrativePortraitFashion#

Environmental Portrait

Assignment 3: Bad

Link To Bad:

As clean as David Lachapelle's work is and as perfect as it seems, it does not make any sense. There are no relation what so ever between the background and his subjects even when he is trying to tell a story through a series of pictures, they still look unreal especially when it is photographs that include famous people where we know who they really are and what they really do. Rineke Dijkstra's work in environmental portraiture is also a fail where we don't learn anything about who the subjects really are and what is their relation with the background which is often a seascape. Manuel Alvarez Bravo has amazing photographs and he shot people in their own environment but the images do not speak to us in a way to tell us who the subjects really are; for example, the image of Frida Kahlo does not show her artistic side so if she wasn't famous enough to be recognizable then it would've been just another nice image. Jerome Abramovitch's is a straight forward photographer where you understand who the subject that is being photographed is but most of the time if not always there are no relation with the background...

Assignment 3: Good

Link To Good:

In this series I included images not only of documentary and portrait photographers but also photojournalists/war photographers who throughout their work did a lot of environmental portraits of soldiers and civilians showing what they go through in their everyday life. The images don't necessarily show the interest of the subject and who he really is and what he does in life but their expressive faces combined with their surrounding speak a lot to us about what kind of a lifestyle those people lead if we can call it ''life''. For example, Sebastiao Salgado's images shows exactly the environment of the subject where we understand they are migrating and are homeless. Lewis Hine has amazing photographs with simple backgrounds showing people in their line of work, where we understand perfectly who is the subject; what I liked best between his images is the one of the women sitting down and sleeping where the background is so simple but expressive because we understand she i homeless and the street is her environment. August Sander for instance photographed people in their own environment but the background does not tell us much about who they are, we understand more from the way they are dressed or from some sort of symbolism that included in the image... The backgrounds in Antonin Kratochvil pictures are amazing and very clear even it was a simple background it still tells a story and delivers the message. It is funny how war photographers have better environmental portraits and less time to shoot than actual portrait photographers who have the time to think, prepare and shoot. Zoriah Miller is one of my favorites war photographers and his images are very strong and honest; he gets close to his subjects even in moments of danger. Through his images we can understand the story of his subjects and their situation.