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