The objective of this assignment is to provide you with an opportunity to explore the themes covered in Part Two with regard to the use of both studio and location for the creation of portraits.

This assignment is about taking what has worked from the above exercises and then trying to develop this further in terms of interchanging the use of portraits taken on location (street) with portraits taken inside (studio).

You need to develop a series of five final images to present to the viewer as a themed body of work. Pay close attention to the look and feel of each image and think of how they will work together as a series. The theme is up to you to choose; you could take a series of images of a single subject or a series of subjects in a themed environment. There is no right answer, so experiment.

“vice versa” – in reverse order from the way something has been stated; the other way around:

(“What Is The Correct Way To Use ‘Vice Versa’?”)

comparing one thing with another in relation to part 2?

  • unaware versus aware
  • natural versus posed
  • outside versus inside
  • relaxed versus tense
  • social distancing versus intimacy
  • working from home versus working in the office
  • back versus front
  • reality versus ideology
  • face versus mask
  • low key versus high key
  • upright versus up side down

I like the idea of taking images of someone wearing masks versus not wearing masks in normal surroundings and in the studio. does wearing the mask make it more compelling?

will lock this assignment in time – November Lockdown 2

Ideas:

  • Same masked face, different backgrounds – when you can’t see someone’s face, does changing the background alter how the viewer sees the subject.
  • show subject different videos to ellicit emotional response, rather than words

Richard Pearce·Most portrait shots show a person’s face, and especially the eyes – it’s what we expect of such a shot – but the sense of a person can be conveyed without the face being seen at all, relying instead on elements such as colour, angle, props, activity etc to ‘tell a story’ about that person. Here are some inspirational ‘faceless portraits’ from around the web. https://www.pinterest.co.uk/richp01/portraits-without-faces/

Pogosyan M and Engelmann J (2017) How We Read Emotions from Faces. Front. Young Minds. 5:11. doi: 10.3389/frym.2017.00011

Aside from this distinction, portrait photographers have used a whole manner of
different methods through which to explore the notion of identity. For example,
decisions made around the location of a particular portrait can help to determine
the subject’s supposed ‘identity’, but this assumes that identity is something that
can be presented or revealed through an isolated image. Identity is in some
senses a slippery concept and might require a series of images to explore fully.
What we need to address here, though, are the challenges inherent in a medium
through which representation of an ideal is recorded merely through a solitary
blip of light.


With this in mind, Part Two asks you to consider what notions of identity you
wish to reveal and to make decisions about the methods you’ll employ to secure
a successful resolution. In addition to exploring the unaware/aware dichotomy,
the exercises that follow pose questions about the interrelationship between
portraits made in the studio (inside) and portraits made using a specific location
(outside). You’ll get an opportunity to test both and, in the assignment, an
opportunity to shift between them.