Photojournalistic Environmental Portraits

This week in class we are focusing on environmental portraits.  An environmental portrait is a portrait executed in the subject's usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject's life and surroundings. The term is most frequently used as a genre of photography. By photographing a person in their natural surroundings, it is thought that a photographer would be able to better illuminate their character, and therefore portray the essence of their personality, rather than merely a likeness of their physical features. It is also thought that by photographing a person in their natural surroundings, the person will be more at ease, and so be more conducive to expressing themselves, as opposed to in a studio, which can be a rather intimidating and artificial experience.  Here are a few examples below that I have found in my study of these types or portraits:

 

© William Bragg 

When creating an environmental portrait of an artist, the obvious choice is to photograph them in their studio.   Robert Hess (the subject) is shown here in his studio surrounded by finished and unfinished work.  I chose this image because it speaks to me about the subject and the type of work that they do.

© Chris Hamilton 

 In this example of an environmental portrait we have a picture of an Industrial worker.  The subject is shown in their work environment and tells a different story than the one above.  I chose this image because of the leading lines which I found very interesting.  

 

©Brett Benham

In this example of an environmental portrait we have a very interesting subject who fills the frame in a very nice way.  We can see the age and apparent life experiences in his face.  The color choices are very nice and what appears to be a chain-link fence in the background makes for a very nice contrast in this portrait. This type of portrait  gives the viewer some insight into the person who is being photographed and their life experiences.  I chose this image because of the eyes of the subject.  The eyes seem to pull you into the image. 

Sources:
http://pluphotoj.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/environmental-portrait-of-robert-hess/
http://www.hamphoto.com/index.php#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=20&p=1&a=0&at=0
http://ferenc.biz/photography/brett-benham