Portraiture Brief
Inspiration
Rineke Dijkstra – Stranger portrait
One segment of the third brief was to take a photograph of a stranger. For this, I was inspired by a photographer called Rineke Dijkstra. This photographer often takes pictures of strangers as her theme of work. A lot of her work is photos of teenagers in their swimwear at the beach. Due to this uncomfortable situation, the photograph highlights the expressions of awkwardness on their faces. As well as this, I liked how all the beach photos are very similarly shot and show a full body shot to also highlight the awkwardness in their body language. For my own portrait of a stranger, I want the model to have a blank expression on their face and keep the photo as minimalistic as possible similarly to Dijkstra’s style of work.
Dan Winters – Self Portrait
For my self portrait, I was inspired by a photographer called Dan Winters. A common theme throughout his portraiture work is to use a dark background to make the model stand out more. As well as this, the photographer uses side lighting which casts a nice shadow across the models face which makes the images more interesting. The background colour and lighting technique is one I wanted to include into my final portrait. To continue with the theme of different emotions, I decided that I wanted my self portrait to show myself looking relaxed and comfortable unlike the portrait of the stranger. For example, a photograph of me smiling to highlight the fact that I am in a comfortable situation. Below are some examples of Dan Winter’s work.
Bert Stern – Portrait of friend
For the portrait of a friend, I was inspired by a photographer called Bert Stern. I was drawn to this style of photography as the models in his photographs look natural and happy to suggest that they are familiar and comfortable with being photographed. I wanted to include this into my portrait of a friend to highlight the fact that they are comfortable and surrounded by friends. To do this, I hope to capture a candid photograph of my friend smiling or laughing to showcase this. Below are some examples of Bert Stern’s work that show his models in a state of happiness/laughter.
Test Shots
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2522/4186055308_d850b82593.jpg
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=side+lighting+diagram&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBGB731GB731&espv=2&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmm8Gk_cnSAhVmGsAKHWjbCk0Q_AUIBigB&biw=1366&bih=613#imgrc=HnnVHmnXOvWZRM:
https://artblart.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/coney-island-n-y-usa-june-20-1993-web.jpg
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/images/work/P/P78/P78328_10.jpg
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/images/work/P/P78/P78329_10.jpg
http://www.artnet.com/WebServices/images/ll954675llgM4JCfDrCWBHBAD/bert-stern-twiggy-(smiling).jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7249/7131308091_2c2a66d800.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/22/70/ca/2270ca82fc7d659b49c68d9e4921a3ab.png
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