Relevant Photographers/Research - Portrait Element

This image is shot by Irving Penn - Pablo Picasso at La Californie, Cannes, France, 1957. I chose this shot because I love the detail in Picasso's face. Being shot in black and white with such contrast, every wrinkle and hair is perfectly defined. Also, the jacket covering part of his face adds mystery making the image more interesting.

The image is shot at a very unconventional angle making Picasso look slightly awkward and uncomfortable. Having said this, it does make the image very unique.

In summary, this image shows two of the best artists in their fields in a unique, unconventional and mysterious way.



I came across this body of work shot by Paul Mobley and created by Mobley and Mike Campau. Their intention is this project was to shoot celebrities backstage before a show, at their homes or in hotels when they are on tour. They brainstormed before each session to try and come up with ideas fo each celebrity that would portray their personalities in an artistic style. They would use suble colour and toe corrections or full CGi and dificult composites to make the images as creative and interesting as possible.

These two images are of Lewis Niles Black who is an American comedian, author, playwright, social critic and actor. One o the unusual things he is famous for is his 'angry face' so I thought this first image was very suiting to the brief that Mobley and Campau set themselves, portraying the celebrities personalities in an artistic style.

The hand guestures and facial expression make this a very unique portrait and show Mobley and Campaus style very well. Also, I really like the fact that they have chosen to shoot the image with a black background and have Lewis wearing a black top. This makes the clothing completely fall into the background making it invisible to the viewer. This helps to direct the focus the the more important elements of the image.

The second image shows the author, actor, playwright and social critic
  side with the newspapers, dramatic wind efect, etc. This image is very clearly carefully set up in a studio and has a artificial layering behind it of a building added in post production but it still makes for an interesting and comical image which I beleive is what Mobley and Campau were aiming for.









Joshua Cripps is a photographer I discovered who took a series of photographs shown below of woodworker, fireman and ametuer photographer, Blake Weber. After researching into his work further I found that he actually specialises in stunning landscapes and hikes at least 45 miles for each shot. This made it suprising to me that he had done a portrait series such as this. Having said this, it releates to both shoots I have done/planned for my portrait element brief which is why I have chosen them.


Cripps used a softbox as the main light source and a CTO-gelled bare speedlight to give the image a bit of a 'kick'. The images where all shot within Weber's workshop so the equipment Cripps used had to be portable. In the whole series of photographs I really like how Cripps has made his subject pop out from the background using the flash set up he had.

The image of Weber with no tools was shot at the entrance of the workshop so using natural light. Cripps said that he suddenly noticed the aesthetic lighting and that the shot wasn't planned. It looks like Weber is being lit by a natural softbox which gives a slightly different effect to the real softbox in the other two photos.

In my photos I am only using a flash gun attached to my camera. So I am working with using natural light and bouncing light off walls and objects to get a desired effect.

I would describe the first image as being an observed image rather than a formal portrait due to it showing a small element of the workshop and tools.

Having said this, I think that all of these images have an element of formal portrait because they all involve Weber looking directly at the camera and posing.










This image was taken by David Bailey of Jean Shimpton 1962.

One of my favorite parts of this image is the motion visible in Shimpton's hair. This shows that Bailey has used a fairly slow shutter speed to get the blurred effect on the hair.

Also, the position of Shimpton adds a very artistic effect to the image. The shape of her arms is very symmetrical. This along with the motion in her hair makes me feel like the image is more of an art form than a photograph.

The very subtle contast the the shadows on Shimptons back, arms and face is also somethin that draws me to this image. Often, shadows are avoided in these areas or made stronger but in this case I think it has worked very well.

The only criticism of this image I have is I feel that the image has been cut off at the bottom. I feel that maybe a full body shot would make the image feel more complete. Having said this, Bailey may have been trying to show more detail by shooting the frame tighter into Shimpton.

This is clearly a formal portrait, shot in a studio and is very staged. The woman's job is to pose for these sorts of 'formal portraits'.





Photographer, Sara Naomi Lewkowicz won the 2013 Ville de Perpignan Remi Ochlik Award for  her work documenting domestic violence. I found his series of photos documenting a woman called Maggie and her life since November 2012 when she was the victim of a violent attack by her ex-boyfriend Shane.

The pair had started dating just amonth before Sara met them and found out very quickely the age difference (Maggie 19 and Shane 31) and that Maggie's children were not Shane's and that also Shane had spent a large amount of his life in prison.

There were 46 images in this story so I have chosen my favorites for the reasons I have stated below.

I really liked this photograph because I think it portrays the unkown and dark side of the relationship between Shane and Maggie. The majoity of the frame is completey black other than the small window where Maggie can be seen standing. To me it adds mystery and I believe may be shot this way to try and portray the confusion of the photographer as to why Maggie began to date Shane after he came out of prison for attacking her.

It is an unusual image because a lot of the frame could be seen as wasted but as I stated above I think this adds to the confusion and mystery of this strange relationship which makes it very suiting.

This image, I believe is a detailed shot. Although the detail is not clear, most of the frame is empty meaning the small detail there is what makes the mysterious story.

The further I got through this series of images the more intruging I found it. I started to become ver clear that somehow Sara had managed to be so trusted by the couple that she could be in any situaton without disrupting any of the usual distressing goings on such as the frequent domestic abuse.

I found this image extremely powerful and in some ways distressing. Shane is clearly a very troubled man that cannot control his anger. In this image we can see that he is literally press Maggie's very small child against her mothers legs in order to get closer to intimidate Maggie whilst she is crying.

Sara has captured this image at the perfect moment. It seems as though the child isn't put off or scared by this situation and Sara has ensured that she has shot the image wide enough and with a low enough apature to clearly include all of this information.

I take inspiration from this image for an observed portrait because Sara is very much taken a step back a letting the events unfold whilst she looks on/observes.




I have a great passion for sea and surf so decided to research into any photographers that may have shot a portrait series along these lines. I came across a photographer called Joni Sternbach who has done a series of portraits of surfers including some within Cornwall.

I was drawn to this image originally by the framing of Jo (the surfer) between the two large cliffs at Towan beach in Newquay Cornwall. Also, the small bridge at the top of the image is a well known landmark in Newquay leading to a house on a stack in the centre of the beach. He has used his iconic landmark to frame his subject which is the main aspect of his image I like.

I like that the image is shot as an envionmental portrait. Sternbach has chosen not to show as much detail of his main subject, the surfer but aso include just as much of the surroundings. Jo is clealy still the main point of focus being right in the centre of the frame.

Also, the glossy look of the shallow water/wet sand reflects the cliffs very aesthetically and adds a nice conrast to the foreground of the image.

The only critisism of this image I have is that the more I look at it the more I find myself straining to see more detail of the surfer. The could be resolved b shooting exactly the same shot but moving Jo closer to the camera.

This is definitely an environmental portrait for the reasons I have stated above. The subject is visible but more an object in the image as you cannot see much detail and Sternbach has clearly tried to focus the shot on the environment Jo is in.





I chose to analyse this photograph because I found it comical not only that the street artist didn't want his photograph taken yet clearly displaying a detailed self portrait of himself next to him but also that this situation of someone covering their face to avoid a photograph has often happened to and frustrated me. Also, I found this image inspirational for my work because it shows personality in a image. It was taken by a National Geographic photographer Bruno Schlumberger on the streets of lace du Tertre in Paris, France.

I love this image because I see at as two separate photographs. One of a man that clearly does not want his photograph taken and the other a man posing in a portrait. You can see from the detail around the mans hands that the man in the photo and the painting are the same person. I think that it is the way the photo has been framed using the rule of thirds to clearly separate the left of the image from the right.

It is not the most technically brilliant photograph I have seen but it is the element of comedy that makes it inspiration for my work on this project.

I see this shot as a observed portrait because Schlumberger is fairly well back from the street artist to show his work but does not show his environment clearly and is rather 'observing'.




This photograph was taken by Sandy Powers of Lady Lisa. The image is very detailed and shows great contrast. The wrinkles in the woman's skin have been used to Powers advantage to create a very natural and realistic image. In this case Lady Lisa was an ex model. Often these kinds of portraits are touched up to remove wrinkles and 'imperfections'. By not doing this, Powers has created a very engaging image.

The smoke adds a very artistic element to this photo which not only gives us more information about this document style photograph of a woman but also adds an element of interest and something to catch someones eye.

This is shot similarly to a formal portrait. Having said this, I wouldn't have thought the subject would be acting so casually in a 'formal' portrait in most cases.

This image could also be seen as a detailed portrait due to the reasons I have listed above about the great contrast, the wrinkles, the smoke, jewellery, etc. Also, it is shot very tight showing none of Lady Lisa's surrounding areas which would make it suitable as a detailed portrait.