Portraiture Photographers

August Sander

August Sander was a German portrait photographer and has been described as "the most important German portrait photographer of the early twentieth century." His most famous work was that of People of the 20th Century, in which he photographed people posed in ways that reflected their career/status.

A few examples:

His photo's are highly staged/posed/directed and quite obvious in their content but they do portray a certain truth of society at the time.















Diane Arbus

Arbus is known for her black and white square imagery of those on the fringes of society, or minorities that appear aesthetically surreal or ugly. Her work was often described as presenting a modern day freak show as she included dwarfs, giants, transgender, prostitutes etc.

She documented “Things that nobody would see.” unless she photographed them. Her interest is with The Other and therefore she is likely to represent her subjects in certain ways that would be more shocking, or of more interest to the viewer. E.G. Flash = Dramatic/Theatrical/Performed – almost like circus “freaks” “The square format of her images suggested a voyeurism and immediacy often associated with the polaroid format...” Clarke, The Photograph P.22 Arbus presents “the careful plotting of psychological states of mind.” Clarke, The Photograph p.194

There have been debates surrounding the ethics of her work. For example she was said to have tormented the young boy below holding the grenade, and in this TIME magazine article Richard Lacayo posits that “Arbus, especially, did not take much of an interest in the people in her pictures for themselves. What she cared about was how they could function as emblems of the various beasts within us.” Photography: American Beauty, Richard Lacayo, TIME magazine

Nan Goldin

Nan Goldin is a modern American Photographer (70's - 00's) Her work was often concerned with her close family and friends, particularly focusing on gay culture, and she often portrayed controversial themes such as domestic abuse and aids. Her work is largely 'loosely thematic' and portrays a whole range of situations and personal spheres. A lot of it is often censored as it is sexually explicit and she has been criticised for such things as glorifying drug use.

Tina Barney
Tina Barney (born 1945, New York City) is an American artist photographer best known for her large-scale, color portraits of her family and close friends, many of whom are from the upper class societies of New York and New England. 

Tina Barney has said, “I began photographing what I knew.” For much of the 1980s and 1990s, this meant taking pictures of her friends and family as they went about their daily lives in affluent areas of Long Island, New York City, and New England. Employing a large-format, 8-by-10-view camera enabled her to create highly detailed images that retain their focus and richness even when made into four-by-five-foot prints. Barney was thus one of the first photographers to present color work on a grand scale that rivaled most twentieth-century paintings. This scale also inspired a deliberate construction of the picture, at times requiring supplementary lighting and the direction of the sitters.

(section from the art Institution of Chicago)

Fazal Sheikh

Fazal Sheikh is an American photographer who depicts "the lives of individuals in displaced communities across East Africa, in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Brazil, Cuba and India." (Fazal Sheikh Website) He has a concern with human rights which can be seen in his photographs as many of his subjects adopt the non-western, intra-diegetic gaze in which they stare out at the viewer thereby communicating with them.

"In 2001 he established a series of projects and books about international human rights issues that would be published and distributed free of charge and made available online. These are published under the imprint of the International Human Rights Series " (Fazal Sheikh Website)

He uses a small depth of  field and really focuses on the eyes of the person as if they're staring into the soul, and urging you to help them.

Michelle Sank

"Michelle Sank was born in Cape Town, South Africa. She left there in 1978 and has been living in England since 1987. Her images reflect a preoccupation with the human condition and to this end can be viewed as social documentary. Her work encompasses issues around social and cultural diversity." Sank focuses on people in their environments and different society demographics, but often from working class backgrounds.

Weeks 3 - 5 Lesson Notes and Exercises - Portraiture

In my Week 3 photography lesson, we discussed the portraiture genre. We talked about this discourse in terms of how it is utilised; i.e. the family portrait to document the unit, the I.D. portrait, utilised by institutions such as schools, hospitals, prisons etc. and what these represent in different contexts. The portrait discourse derived from the portraiture painting, which was seen as a symbol of power and wealth, as the subjects of these paintings could afford this luxury, and were often religious or royal figures. To counteract this, we discussed how I.D. photo's sought to equalise all subjects, by placating them in locations with uniform backgrounds and controlling all variables such as lighting, position, expression to create photo's in which subjects appear largely equal. 

We also discussed how the availability of the family portrait affects the demand for it, and that the trend of posing for a family portrait appears to be waining in westernised countries, due to technological advancements; meaning that more families can produce/reproduce their own high quality photo's, and thus there is less of an inclination towards posing for a family portrait. However, in other areas formal family portraits are still demanded, perhaps as costs are high and availability, low; thus asserting this discourse as a status symbol with which to distinguish a respective family unit above others in the hierarchy. Perhaps there are also other contextual features which affect the demand for the family portrait; such as the importance of family to different cultures. We also outlined the conventions of the portraiture genre; based on the idea's of David Bate in Photography: The Key Concepts. These include:

• Face -> personal appearance
• Pose -> manner/attitude
• Background/location -> social scene
• Clothing -> social class/sex/cultural values

We discussed these in terms of many different photographers; with a particular focus on the works of August Sander. 

The photograph on the left, of three young farmers, portray all 4 conventional elements of a portrait. Sander focussed on the theme of society at work, yet interestingly these farmers are not physically exerting themselves in any way in this photograph; on the contrary, they appear still and composed on their land, exuding wealth and confidence in their demeanour (i.e. posture, clothing and expressions) The builder on the right, although also still, is partaking in the physical activity of lifting heavy bricks, thus suggesting he has to work hard in his job. His clothes are plainer and tattier than the farmers, and the placement of his hand on his hip suggests contempt for the job. Both photo's are not naturally presented; the poses, clothing, background and faces are all contrived, I assume largely due to the directions of Sander, thus underlining certain representations and providing social commentary on certain industries of this time. Thus, it can be said that in comparison to the documentary genre, portraiture is more subjective due to its pre-meditated nature.

We looked at this photograph by Fazal Sheikh and discussed the idea of the blank expression as a canvas, with which to project feelings and emotions on to, and counteractively, we discussed the smile as a mask and reasons behind this general behavioural attitude such as it being perhaps a symbol of consent to be photographed or a means of disassociating oneself from early institutional photographs of the ill in hospitals, criminals in prison etc.  

In terms of audience reception, we discussed Freud's theories of the pleasure taken from viewing photographs. He attributes this to recognising others/objects/places in photographs and identifying with them. He also separates the reading of representations  into three categories:

• Known Representations, which often evoke emotional responses often of pleasure (i.e. seeing celebrities in magazines)
• Familiar Representations, viewing that of our friends and family generates a positive identification and pleasurable emotional response.
• Unfamiliar Representations, referring to the idea of 'The Other', the emotional response generated is one of discomfort.

The Photographers below are one's which we looked at, and discussed, during this lesson. I have researched these Photographers further in this section of my blog: 

above 2 = week 5 presentations

Photography Theories Applied to Photographers - Class Presentations.

7 Types of Gaze

There are variations on the different types of gazes which exist but the following 7 encompass the main/standardised types:

The Spectators Gaze: The gaze of the viewer at an image/photograph of a person/animal/object

The Intra-Diegetic Gaze: The gaze of one person/animal/object at another within the text.

The Direct (or Extra-Diegetic) Gaze: The gaze of a person/animal/object looking 'out of the frame' as if at the viewer.

The Look of a Camera: The gaze of the film maker/photographer.

The Averted Gaze: Those represented avoiding the photographer's gaze or another person in the texts gaze by looking elsewhere.

The Editorial Gaze: The institutional methods of choosing photographs for editorial purposes.

The Gaze of a Bystander: A person watching another person view an image/text. If documented this produces a photograph within a photograph.


Example: In portraiture the gaze employed often by the person/animal within the text is that of the The Direct Gaze, in which they look into the camera, or in other words: at the viewer. Fazal Sheikhs photograph below displays this type of gaze but also the Intra-Diegetic Gaze, as the girl on the left stares at her sister. In this sense all aspects of the photograph are encouraging the viewer to look at the young child on the right, as her eye-contact with the viewer is reinforced by her sister who is also focusing on her. Another gaze which could be said to be at work here is the Non-Western Subject Gaze in which a non-western person looks into the camera/at the viewer, at another subject or into the distance as if to communicate something to the viewer. This is often accompanied by an incomprehensible facial expression which allow for emotions to be projected onto them by the viewer. This is true of a lot of Fazal Sheikh's photography.

The Other

Groups often classified as "The Other"

• Non-Western subjects - as Western people are often the ones photographing due to better technological and financial situations. This type of photograph was often thought of as outlining power structures and the asserting of western authority, but perhaps more often in current society, to highlight sociological issues in the non-western countries and to encourage help from the west. John Berger describes the more explicit images of this type of "other" as spawning "image fatigue" in which the western audiences become immune to the distress highlighted in these photo's.
• Child subjects - Photographers are adults, and there is a lack of understanding between adults and children, and so this type of photography is used a means of comprehension. Their lack of power in this relationship and their supposed innocence makes them an interesting subject to depict. Mary Ellen Mark often photographed youths and children in the modern day. The photograph below provides the rhetoric of the impacts modern society on children, and the idea of growing up too fast. The young girl in the background appears innocent and simple in contrast to the girl in the foreground who is wearing makeup and a bikini, blowing smoke into the camera and holding a cigarette with her arms folded.

This displays this "other" (i.e. children) as reenacting their counterparts (i.e. adults) lifestyles, and evokes shock. Another example of a group deemed as "The Other" reenacting their counterparts lifestyles can be seen in the photography of Seydou Keita, in which non-western or Malian subjects dress-up and use props (such as ties/suits/glasses/fountain pens etc.) to symbolise their modern/western aspirations

In the photograph below, taken by Seydou Keita in 1959, the subject portrays the Non-Western "Other" sporting modern or "materialistic" clothing and accessories. He holds a flower which to me connotes the idea of growing or blossoming into something better i.e. acquiring of western values. 

• Outsiders of Society - Those who form a small part of society, and who are thus rarely taken into account and depicted. This could be the subject displaying photographs of their own society and their separation from this, or the photographer portraying those separated and stigmatised in society. However, this could also refer to people/photographers who are completely new to a society or culture, and who photograph to highlight underlying issues that go un-addressed by those who live there. Diane Arbus is a classic example of a photographer who portrays those at the fringes of society. Her photograph below displays a transvestite in 1966, a type of person who was rarely documented seriously at this time. 

The Photographer Robert Frank is an example of somebody who travelled outside of his community to photograph in a new society. In this sense he was "The Other" as his was the minority. He is french but travelled to the USA to photograph American society, creating a book entitled The Americans in 1958, which provided a compilation of these photographs. The Photographs placate the viewer as a stranger, as indeed Frank was during this time and in this article (http://rising.blackstar.com/eye-on-image-making-robert-frank-redux.html) he says that this comes about from “years of photography, where you walk about, you observe, and you walk away, and you begin to be a pretty good detective.” I love his photograph below, entitled Chasing Light as each different type of person is framed in a box, suggesting their separation despite all sharing the same society. The children and the afro-american man appear to be the two reaching out to the photographer, both in their physical gestures and in their facial expressions; in both they are trying to communicate something. They portray the two types of "Other" aforementioned: children and those that were on the fringes of society, and thus this photograph and so there are 3 types of Other: the photographer, the child and the outsider at the time.

The Ethics of Representation

Representing subjects is complicated as it involves a moral and ethical responsibility on part of the photographer. Some, however, choose to disregard this in favour of a signigicant photograph. There is also, however, an ethical responsibility on part of the viewer in terms of self-regulation, or those who display certain photographs such as institutional bodies, in terms of censorship. I have previously mentioned Berger's notion of "Image Fatigue", and how distressing images are ameliorated due to the sheer number of them that are disseminated across media platforms. This suggests the ambiguity around what is ethical/unethical as people continuously view photographs differently. Some may argue that the ethical nature which these "Image Fatigue" photo's are trying to encourage the viewer to adopt is somewhat contradicted by the act of documenting rather than helping. For example, the photograph below by Kevin Carter depicts a young starving boy, during the Sudan Famine, crawling towards a United Nations food camp kilometers away, whilst a vulture looks on seemingly awaiting her death. This photograph won the Pulitzer Prize, but caused a lot of controversy as people questioned why Carter didn't step in and remove the boy from imminent danger, after its printing in the New York Times in 1993. Carter reportedly took the photograph and then left the scene, and so NYT was unable to state the fate of they boy to the interrogating public. However it was later revealed that Carter was travelling with the UN and was only allowed to stay at this particular feeding centre for 30 minutes. He had never seen famine before and so documented many shots of the children suffering, he then chased the eagle away who had flown down as food was being delivered from the UN plane. Ultimately the photo incited help for Sudan but many people questioned its reliability (i.e. whether it was staged) and Carters ethical stance with regards to it.

Connotation and Denotation

Denotation: What can literally be seen in the photograph/image

Connotation: The more complex meanings that can be inferred within the photographs such as cultural signifiers, codes of colours/lighting/mise en scene and the representations of the subjects featured against the social/historical/ideological context.

Denotations vs connotation of this Martin Parr photograph: 

• A baby is balanced precariously on a womans lap being changed over the waters edge: This could connote the lack of care/bad parenting in society at the time. The baby isn't covered up and looks slightly red - it also isn't protected by the mothers arms as she doesn't grip him to prevent him from falling.
• The water is litter-filled and murky: Society is wasteful, disrespectful and polluted, with a further lack of care (following on from mothers lack of care with baby)
• Children are bathing their feet in the water: being polluted by society, becoming part of this pollution. Also highlights a lack of good parenting again. The casual approach to parenting
• A man is holding a pram next to the baby being changed - the man is cut out of the frame perhaps suggesting the lack of presence or significance of men in their child's life or the lack of authority that the man symbolises - perhaps reasons why society is the way it is.
• The location is industrial, with concrete pavements: The opposite of picturesque, represents the ugly side of British society.
• The day is bright and sunny: to perhaps contrast against the ugly setting. Evoking questions as to why people are in such a horrible location on such a nice day. Underlines class and financial situatios (working class with lack of money. Location is free and nearest they have to a beach)
• A black couple stands in the middle background of the photograph looking in the direction of the children washing their feet: portrays a role reversal in which the black couple have more power over the other white people in the photo and are perhaps looking at the children in shock due to them bathing in the filthy water.

However this photograph could also suggest the empowerment of British society as they "power on" in the context of the economic downturn/recession. They may have little money to travel to nice locations but they make the most of it by bringing their families along, dipping their feet in, and coming together in the location. The mother appears to effortlessly change her baby, with the quiet confidence and nochalance of somebody who done it a thousand times before and the baby does not appear to be frightened or upset when balanced on her knee.

Studium and Punctum

Roland Barthes came up with these two terms in the 1980's in the book Camera Lucida. Studium refers to the cultural, sociological and ideological context of the photograph, which could cause a viewer to further understand the messages and connotations or "preferred readings" that could be featured within a given photograph.

The Punctum referes to a symbol included in the photograph which initiates a emotional response from the viewer, and is the point in the photograph which most peoples attention is drawn towards. 



I hope to include all of these theories in my project to some extent: perhaps some more overtly than others. The subject of "The Other" and "The Ethics of Representation" stand out to me the most in terms of my street photography/performed reality idea's and hopefully I will be able to include these in my proposal.

Street Photography Shoot in Brighton

I didn't feel that today's shoot went very well owing to technological difficulties, and perhaps due to me overlooking aspects of my project idea. I decided to go to Brighton as there are a range of different people in this area and often artistic or performative people who I felt were likely to want to be part of my project. My idea was to photograph these people whilst they are unaware of the camera's gaze. I then approached them and asked to take their photograph for a street photography project documenting Brighton and the people within it. Often people asked what I wanted from the photograph and I got into the routine of asking them to 'act natural' as I was interested to see how they would portray themselves naturalistically or how they construed 'reality'. I don't think that this was very effective however as the lack of direction on my part often made people feel nervous and awkward in front of the camera. Generally people smiled and did put on a different 'face' for the camera but I can't help feeling that this was more due to them not knowing me and thus keeping me at a distance in that sense. However, I did not want to direct them, as I wish to analyse peoples natural behaviour towards the camera and not merely create a scene that I have in my head for them to enact, as that partly defeats the purpose. 

In terms of the technical side of shooting today, I found myself continuously altering the aperture/shutter speed and ISO, due to varying light conditions in the Lanes and on the Beach. This meant that I missed out on a lot of good shots as photo's were over/under exposed but mainly blurry. I tried using both auto and manual focus but a lot of my photo's still ended up blurry. This wasn't good for street photography as real life is spontaneous and short-lasting, so you have to act fast to get the 'decisive moment' shot.

Another thing I struggled with today was with approaching people. I am quite shy as it is and although I tried to appear confident and friendly I still found it very hard to pluck up the courage to ask a stranger for their photo. It makes me wonder what street photographers like Gary Tyson must say to the subjects in their photo's. The subjects are often clearly engaged with the camera and aware that they are being photographed.

Here are my favourite unedited photographs from my shoot today:

I found this mans quirky sense of style and attitude intriguing, as he browsed the laines contemplatively. I wanted to ask him for his photograph but due to the technical difficulties I had with lighting and focus I unfortunately missed my chance.

The 3 photo's above are of my favourite person of the day. I really liked his bright clothing and thought that it would aesthetically be nice to capture in conjunction with the colour and vibrancy of the Lanes; almost as a visual representation of it. I also thought he was interesting as he seemed to be inquisitive and slightly shifty. As he was drinking I felt that he may be more likely to perform in front of the camera as he perhaps would be less inhibited.

I think the above 3 photographs are interesting as they show an 'in-between' stage between the naturalistic and the performed. At this point I was talking to the man, telling him that I was photographing him for my University project, and was asking him to stand in the middle of the Lanes. The main reason for this was due to the better lighting but I usually found it more visually appealing. In these photo's the man is interacting with me and looks to be acting/smiling naturally. I like the stages that this series of photographs go through.

The above 3 photographs are almost like a visual narrative. The man realises he's holding his can of beer/cider and, in a bid to disassociate himself from the stereotypical 'day drinker' -and all the connotations that come with this- he hastily removes it from the frame and holds out his hands in an comical 'innocent' gesture. The transition from the first naturalistic photograph of the man walking the streets openly holding the alcohol contradicts this self-representation and highlights the extent to which people will go to represent themselves positively and perform in front of the camera. The man also looks slightly more nervous in the last few photographs. I had stopped speaking to him at this point and was photographing him in the middle of the street in front of lots of people, so this may have contributed to this performative nature or the fact that he seems to be trying to 'act casual' in the last photograph.

The above photographs are quite overexposed, as the sky is whited out- so I will need to edit the lighting of them if I choose to use them in my project.

I loved the look of these dogs and the fact that they were so large in comparison to their petite owner. I couldn't get very close to the woman at the time without her noticing that I was photographing her, as the beach wasn't very busy, so I had to zoom from a distance and run along the promenade looking down to the beach to capture these photo's. Unfortunately you cannot see her facial expressions that well in these photographs which is a shame as it makes it hard to compare between the natural and the posed. I don't think there is much difference between the woman in both sets of photographs (above and below) other than the fact that she is clearly composed and smiling in front of the picturesque Brighton Pier and sea. I like this set of photo's mainly because they are aesthetically pretty. The sandy tones of the dogs fur match with the stones and the purpley blue of the woman's clothing somewhat matches the sea. However I don't think they will be effective to use in my project as they do not highlight my point explicitly enough. 

The above two photographs are ones which I found very interesting. The couple are notably close in the first, but when I approach them the girl distances herself from him and looks away, whilst he looks adoringly at her. In this sense the smile is the mask for both of them. I think that this photograph could have benefited from being taken slightly back for more room around the girls head.

This couple naturally posed in front of the camera and smiled after I instructed them to act natural. In a way their smile is also a mask and they are performing, however in the photo above they are clearly happy and so the truth of their emotions is not antonymous from those displayed in the posed photo. Therefore this photo isn't that different from the candid in terms of how the subjects act and doesn't fully support my project idea that people are conscientious and largely more aware of positive self-representation when depicted on camera.

Overall I am not very pleased my photographs in terms of my project idea. I think aesthetically and commercially they are good, but feel that they are affected by too many extra contextual factors such as unfamiliarity with subjects, lack of direction, mixed with the conflicting need to be objective. I also worry about the labelling of them as either documentary or portraiture. The candid, surveillance shots lean more towards documentary, whereas the posed are more portraiture based. I may have to consider rethinking some aspects of my project so that the photographs fit in better with the idea.

Project Idea

I have decided on the concept of Surveillance as my project idea and will carry this out in Brighton and Camden locations, as I feel that the reactions of the subjects here will be largely differential between both types of photo: i.e. the unaware and the aware. This is a sweeping generalisation of course, but aesthetically these locations are colourful and usually contain larger than life characters in terms of clothing/appearance, and thus I hope that the photo's of the participants interacting with the camera will be more performative; with the bright colours serving to intensify the carnivalesque theme. I have booked out a Nikon D7000, as it provides high quality photographs and is portable and will be going to Brighton North Laines and the beach tomorrow to get some photo's.