Portraits

EMMA

Environmental

My subjects for this project were Griffin; my sister, Emma; and my dad, Jim. Griffin was photographed on a trampoline, against, a wall, and in a room in his house. Emma was photographed on my parents' bed, against a cloth backdrop, and in her bedroom. Jim was photographed in our house petting the dog, against a wall, and in his hut that he built in our backyard. I made the images by working closely with my subjects and finding out what best suited them. For the sculptural images, I just told them to look blank faced at the camera. But for the character and environmental images I collaborated with them to find out what they thought suited their character. Griffin and I agreed that placing him in a chair reading and looking very smart in his own house would show his studious nature. Emma spends a lot of time in her room, so we both thought that photographing her in it would be her best environment. My Dad spends many of his nights working on various art projects in his hut, so I photographed him while he was working out there. Griffin has a bouncy and wild type of character, so putting him in the middle of a jump would best bring out that character and put some liveliness into the portrait. Emma is a free-spirited child, so just sprawling out on the bed with a smile on her face showed her character. My Dad loves his home and dog, and I just told him to look up and smile while he was petting the dog. The portraits of Griffin show a lot of formal balance. The sculptural one has some high key lighting from the natural light as well. There was a slight angle down on his environmental portrait to show as much of the room as possible. Emma's character and sculptural photos both display formal balance and the bed Emma is lying on creates some slight framing of the subject. Her environmental portrait incorporates the rule of thirds and both high and low key lighting. There is an angle down on Jim's character portrait to show the dog, which he thought was an important part of showing his character. His sculptural portrait has formal balance and both high and low key lighting. Lastly, his environmental portrait displays the rule of thirds. These portraits are all of people I see fairly often in my life, so I am aware of what type of person they are, making these photos enjoyable to create and view for me. If I could, I would fix Griffin's environmental portrait so that I can see all of the environment without having an angle down. I would rather have had it been head on, but that would have required some serious furniture movement. In Emma's photo I would have liked to be tighter on the bed and have less background, but cropping it takes away too much of Emma and makes the spacing seem awkward.