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Portraits
We all have seen portraits of people; they are usually posed and formal, the subject is almost always dressed up and the background is carefully chosen. These types of portraits are wonderful because they give us an image of what the subject looks like. A fine example is the typical school portrait--a three-quarter pose from just below the shoulders with the child looking a bit to the right or left, smiling, and that blue background we all have come to know. Once again, these types of portraits are wonderful because they show us how the subject looks and will give us a record so we can remember the image in the years to come. However, these posed portraits do not give us any information, knowledge, or feelings about the person in the photograph. Who is this person? What does he or she like to do? Does the person have any hobbies? What is this person like?
Environmental portraits can answer some of these questions. These are photographs usually taken of people at their workplace; for instance, a factory worker at his/her machine performing some job functions or a CEO in his/her office. We can make our portraits more interesting by trying to emulate an environmental portrait style. This might be including a child’s favorite toy in a photo, or it could be of your spouse doing the taxes at the kitchen table or computer station, or of your friend practicing his guitar or by simply including the guitar in the photograph. These types of photos do not have to be action shots or candid shots of people doing something. It could be a posed portrait of you, with your camera gear around your feet or at a table beside you. Once people see that photo, they will realize you like photography--they will know more about you than what you simply look like. People hundreds of years ago used to have their portraits painted and at times they would be holding a book so the viewer of the painting would know the subject could read. Other times the artist might include a favorite pet, or a religious article, or even a view of a building in the background the subject helped design or finance. This was their way of saying "Hey, see what I was like! This was part of me."
When looking amongst the family photos we can find vacation shots, weddings, birthday parties, school portraits, summer picnics and other holidays. But, when looking at these, do they tell us anything about our families and friends? Will our descendants learn anything from these photographs? I look at some of my family portraits: posed and dressed up in the photographer’s studio. They are great shots but they do not tell me my great-grandfather was a toymaker, or my uncle played the violin, my aunt was a school crossing guard after she retired, or my grandmother liked to make bread. I wish I had a photograph of my grandmother with her big wooden bowl she used to mix the flour, or of my great-grandfather holding the tools he used to make toys, or of my grandfather at his office desk at the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Some people feel awkward having their picture taken. By including a prop their attention may be detracted somewhat and the person may feel more comfortable. What better way of making a person feel more at ease than by asking him/her to hold an object he/she likes or uses frequently? If he likes to read, ask him to hold a book; if she likes to write, ask her to hold a pad and pen. Just try to remember the objects you are including are the props which are used to enhance the subject (i.e., the person) and that the props are not the subject. You are not trying to take a photo of a book being held by someone, you are taking a portrait of a person and he just happens to be holding a book. As said before, the props do not have to be held by the subject but could be on the floor, at a table beside the person, or on a table behind the person. These extra objects could even be slightly out-of-focus or less lit than the main subject. Think of these props as a seasoning to enhance the photograph and not the main-dish. By doing at least a few environmental portraits of family, friends, and ourselves we will be able to look back over the years and remember how we were. We will be able to say "remember when I took that stained glass art class . . . remember when Brittany got her brown belt in Karate . . . remember that toy phone he used to play with" and our descendants will be able to do the same.
© Paul Joseph Towarnicki