Portraiture

STUDIO PORTRAITURE

In the week 6 workshop, I had the opportunity along with my peers to take photographs in a studio setting. For myself this was my first experience of being in a photography studio. Therefore it was exciting to experiment with backgrounds and studio lighting, in particular low key and high key lighting. When using high key lighting, I learned how to synchronise the camera and lights together to enable the lights to flash upon pressing the shutter. On the other hand, when experimenting with low key lighting we were only using a singular light source. When using this singular source we aimed to produce a formal portrait, the kind that you had taken in school. However this source was providing little focus on the subject, instead it was dimly lighting the whole scene. To counter this we used black wrap around the light to direct it solely onto our faces, enable a purtruding subject from the shadowed frame, which was an effect we liked.

ALTER EGO

The persuasive power of photographs allows someone to inhabit a new role in a single image, which friends, family or followers may respond to in surprising ways. Playing with convention and expectation is something I have been fascinated by for many years. Having studied drama I have always enjoyed taking on the persona of someone other than myself, however I always intend to incorporate myself within the role. I am also an avid writer, specifically crime thrillers. I am captivated by the gang scene in England in the 1960’s and the mafia movement in America. Because of this I like to think of my alter ego as being a gang leader, the type of man you know not to mess with. With this in mind I came up with the above look, much of which was influenced by the infamous Kray twins. I decided to make the piece black and white and construct a vignette to give the image a vintage feel, since the look I am going for is a dated one. Furthermore I have blurred the edges of my upper body to give the sense of me dissolving into the shadows, conveying that I am always watching, even from the shadows.

AMERICAN DUO POSTER PORTRAIT

For my Script, Screenwriting and Realisation module that I am currently studying, we were tasked to produce a short film. My film is entitled ‘American Duo’ and centres on the story of contract killer Richie Palmer, whom is displayed in the image above. For the majority of the film, Richie sits on on a sofa whilst speaking to some corpses. After this scene I managed to capture a photograph in which he delivers a stern direct address to camera, capturing the essence of his character. The film itself is set in the 80’s, therefore the subject is warmly lit to connote nostalgia and reinforce a vintage look.

PHOTOGRAPHING A STRANGER

Recently I went to a friends accommodation a met this girl named Amber, we had never met before and therefore she was a complete stranger to myself. I quickly learnt from her accent alone that Amber is an Essex girl and she will happily describe herself as a typical Essex girl at that. She loves nice clothes, fake nails, makeup and of course fake tan. Amber is currently studying drama and hopes to one day become an actress. To gain a sense of her persona I decided to take this photograph simply using the light above my head, I didn’t want to include too many artificial lights as this would detract from who she truly is. Furthermore I decided to take the photograph of Amber in front of a wall with a similar complexion to her own, I did this as I wanted the photograph to convey her persona stretching across the frame, highlighting that even the background is her; all focus is on her.