Corporate Portrait

For my corporate portrait I went to the dentist where my mother is practice manager. I discovered that this wasn't for me. The main reason being, it felt strange going into somebody elses work place and telling them what to do. Below is my favorite photograph from the shoot.

I quite like this image. I think the cool tones in the image make it crisp and clean looking, in my view how a corporate image should look. It is an environmental image as well as a corporate image which to me, is how corporate photographs are starting look. It makes them more creative and pleasing on the eye.

Nadev Kander

One particular photographer I liked whilst researching for this brief is Israeli photographer, artist and director Nadev Kander. He is known for his portrait and landscape work. He has won numerous awards including the Prix Pictet 'Earth' 2009. Below are some of my favorite portraits of his.

This is a portrait of actor, Michael Caine. I like the soft look to this image. The photo seems to have a pink glow to it. These two qualities makes this image a very easy one to look at.

This is a photograph of singer Cheryl Cole. It could perhaps come under the fine-art category. What is the concept behind the glass of milk next to Cheryl Cole? It could be a juxtaposition to Cole's pose, in that the milk signifies strength and Cole looks very vulnerable. I also like the colours in this photograph.

This is a photograph of US President Barack Obama. It is a different photograph to one that you would usually see of Obama. Most photographs of Obama are quite serious and 'presidential' looking. This however seems a lot more relaxed. I like the dark tones in this image. Could this signify part of Obama's personality?

This photograph is a photograph of British F1 driver and former world champion Lewis Hamilton. This image again seems to be following a pattern that a lot of Kander's portraits follow. the subject is looking away from the camera. This image is similar to the image of Michael Caine in that the colours are very soft and easy on the eye.

This photograph is relevant to my project in that it is a photograph of 100m and 200m world record holder Usain Bolt. I feel that the fact Bolt is topless really emphasises his superiority over everybody else, it makes him stand out more. I like the really high contrast, black and white look this photograph has.

Overall I am a big fan of Kander's work. You could describe these photograph's as fine-art portraits as they seem to be made purely to look good. They seem to have an idea and a concept to them rather than photographs that would serve a purpose i.e. Corporate portrait's.

Environmental Portrait

An environmental portrait is a portrait of somebody in their environment. My idea for this area of the brief is to photograph my fellow athletes in their environment at the athletics track. Below are some of the results.

My earlier images were taken before the clocks went forward therefore it was dark. Whilst they still produced good images the ones from when it was light look much, much better. This is one of my personal favorites. I love the drama the detail in the clouds creates. It adds a real atmosphere to the image. I also really like the curvature of the track. This shows the athlete in his environment very well. There is an expression of focus on the athletes face, like failure is not an option.

Whilst I like this image the images that I took when i

t was lighter are much better. I particularly like the strong contrast of this image. I like the harsh shadows, it creates a dramatic atmosphere. This again would be a better image whilst there is still some light. I really like the elongated shadow in this image.

I really like the composition to this image. I like how the athlete is centred in the lane but positioned more to right of the frame. I really like the position of the shadow in this image too.

This is a photo taken very recently when the light has been lasting a lot longer. I much prefer this image as the athlete's environment is a lot more clear and obvious so it serves it's purpose better as an environmental portrait.

More of my environmental portraits can be found on Flickr page in the set, 'Athletics'.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mynamesrussell

Project

I have decided to base my idea for my project around athletics. I have a keen interest in athletics and throw for my local club Hyndburn AC. I have decided to go with this as I think I could produce some interesting around it and it is something that I wont get bored of. All four area's of the brief would be well covered with this idea.

Shamil Tanna

Whilst looking through the internet at something completely unrelated to photography I stumbled across a photographer called Shamil Tanna. It would seem to me that he mainly photographs people, celebrities from popular culture. He has also done a piece on Ecuador.

I was drawn to his work whilst looking at an article about Great Britain's, number one, female javelin thrower; Goldie Sayers. The image of her in this article was taken by Shamil Tanna and since I am basing the start of my project around my athletics club I decided to do some research into him. Whilst his images of sports stars are different to mine it seemed like a good place to start some research. His images of 'sports stars' are taken, majority, in the studio and in a very 'un-sporty ' environment.

These two images are of former England cricketer and journalist/commentator Geoffrey Boycott. Both I would imagine taken at the Headingley, the cricket ground where Boycott made his name with his home county Yorkshire. The two are good examples of environmental portraits and work well together as a set. I love how the light has evenly lit everything in the shot.

This is a studio shot of Tottenham Hotspur forward Giovanni Dos Santos. This for me works well as it clearly illustrates that he is a footballer. At the same time it could work well as a fashion shot for Nike due to the t-shirt and the ball.

These are two photographs that I can very much relate to mine. They are environmental portraits of 'regular' people playing sport. They seem to me to be lit by the floodlights and separate flash units. The subjects seems to be positioned right underneath the lights due to the ring of lights surrounding the subjects. It is almost like a spotlight, like the subjects want to be stars and in the spotlight. I think these are two successful images.

These are two photographs of two british athletes. This image is of interest to me as it matches my idea in that the athlete on the left is British javelin thrower Goldie Sayers. Both athletes are in their environments; therefore it is an environmental portrait. The lighting used is very strong and harsh. It shows both athletes 'looking towards' something, as if they are looking towards what they want to achieve, to the future, to future competitions and tournaments. This is a very successful way of portraying athletes as all athletes want is success and to achieve great things.

Inspiration

Coming into this people brief one of my big inspirations is photographer Morgan Silk. He has a ranging portfolio and his photographs of people have really inspired me. I love his style and the look to the images. Below are some of my favorite images of his.Oscar Pistorius. South African sprinter with the reputation, 'fastest with no legs'. he is the world record holder in the 100m, 200m and 400m in his disability class. The images of him by Morgan Silk, in a way, fit in with my images of athletes at my Athletics Club. I like this image as it is a well lit, clean looking image and as with all of Silk's images the colours are very 'punchy'. It has possibly been lit with just one light and ambient lighting. The flash unit was probably placed at a 45 degree position.

This another image of South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius. This to me looks as if it might have been taken after a training session or after he has ran a competition. The athlete looks quite tired and 'sweaty'. He is kitted out in typical, sprinter attire. Very simply lit but then I think that works well with the simple composition.

A very dramatic and atmospheric portrait of a young PC. Lit from the front and the left with very strong, harsh flash units. From a series (I gather from the rest of the work) about a riot or crisis. This image is titled 'the rookie' and the expression of the officer really does emphasize fear, a feeling which a new officer may go through when dealing with protests etc. The lighting adds to this effect.

This is a photograph taken for a GSW Worldwide advertisement for the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly. For this image I think Silk makes use of a lot of light around him. I think Silk has used fill in flash just to bring out some of the details in the subjects face. I would imagine the rim of light around his hair has been created by the light from the shot. Possibly a very cleverly located shot.

This is a shot of a US Navy Seal. It is an environmental shot which, I think, Silk has pulled off very well. He has done the difficult thing of using artificial lighting when the sun is behind the subject. I again think that Morgan Silk has used fill-in flash to bring out the details in this photograph.

This is a very serious and dramatic shot of a US Navy Seal. The pose and the rifle coming right towards you creates a very dramatic atmosphere. Silk again appears to have used harsh, artificial lighting for this image. This has worked well adding to the dramatic effect.

Finally, this is another image of a US Navy Seal. The soldier looks alert and ready for action. This along with a very compact composition and the use of harsh lighting produces a very serious and dramatic image, portraying perfectly US Navy Seals.

Overall I like Morgan Silk's work. I love how the images have been edited and the 'punchy' colours in the images. His images all seem to have an atmosphere to them, something which I aim to do when producing photographs. He uses light very well in my opinion.