Dgrin Mini-Challenge #267 - Environmental Portraits

StueveShots

I've got an idea! I want to focus on portraiture this round, in particular because I am working so hard to become better at it. I can learn a lot from all of you! As I looked over portraits I've taken lately that I consider "successful", I noticed that a lot of them have as much to do with their environmental context as with the person being photographed. So let's explore the genre of "environmental portraits"! In the words of Frank van Riper, an environmental portrait "lets me say something about my subject or, more correctly, lets the environment say something about the person or persons in the photograph."

Here are some guidelines that refine this concept for the purposes of this contest:

1. Purposeful and (usually) posed. This is not street photography, where you've spontaneously captured someone in their environment. This is portraiture where the subject is known ahead of time (or spotted ahead of time, in the case of a stranger) and then purposefully placed into their environment. The subject is aware their portrait is being taken.
2. There is a clear balance between the environment and the person--both elements of the photograph are part of the story the photo is telling.
3. The environment reveals something about the person being portrayed. It is NOT simply choosing an interesting or beautiful location and shooting the person there. The location is part of the biography of the person.
4. Attention is given to lighting (usually natural, or only slightly enhanced with flash or reflection), color and/or texture, and composition.

Please submit your three best environmental portraits. A brief caption is welcome--this genre of portraits often appear in magazine profiles, and are allowed a brief caption. So we are too! Black and white or color is fine. Can't wait to see what you've got! The contest begins today, May 30, and will end at midnight Pacific daylight savings time on Thursday, June 14, 2018.

Here are some examples from my work:

1. My eldest, who is studying anthropology and has a particular interest in ancient Britain, pictured at Hadrian's Wall. (An aside: Yes, he hiked in to this site over several kilometers in tie and dress shoes.)
   

2. Senior portrait of a young lady who intends to enter the independent film industry, standing at the door of our local, teeny-tiny 20-seat, art house cinema.
   

3. Portraits of my youngest son, who lives in a rural town, but loves the city--because of this, we purposefully traveled the 3.5 hrs into the city for his set of senior pictures. In most of them, the cityscape is quite blurred and therefore secondary to the portrait, but these two are purposefully about the environment as well as the young man.
   

Much better examples by better photographers found here and here.

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JAG

Great idea Heather! Although not all are comfortable with portraits, I hope they take the time to challenge themselves to try and take a shot at it!

Here are some of mine,

1 My daughter's senior picture. She loves the outdoors and her home town in Alaska

2 My Husband and 3 of my kids at the Wasilla Transportation Museum. My youngest son and husband really like trains and my eldest son likes the old cars. This was taken as part of our family photo sessions.

3 This is my nephew with his first born son. He is very outdoorsy and loves camping and hunting here in Alaska.

StueveShots

These are great, Joyce! I especially love the train shot with your family. I like the location and I love the differences in posture and height among your family members.

I do hope people will give it a try...even if portraiture is not normally their thing. I like environmental portraits because, to me, the emphasis on on the story and biography, rather than specifically beauty or attractiveness (which can be intimidating to capture). But if the subject is a lovely as your daughter, you get both!

StueveShots

One more thought, and then I'll be quiet and let folks experiment. Here is an example of an unposed shot that I still consider an environmental portrait. My son was very aware I was taking this photo, because I spent so long getting the right composition--but he ignored me. Thank goodness.

Cavalier

Good subject for a mini. Here are a few of mine:

1) A photographer friend perched in trees near Apple Hill, Ca. I was there to get some shots of she and her husband, but this one stood out.

2) Baby-to-be shoot. Grandaughter and husband in Foresthill, Ca on a ranch property near the American River canyon.

3) Another one from the baby-to-be shoot. Taken at a popular wedding venue in Foresthill, Ca, where there are lots of trees! The proprietors were kind enough to let us use the property for the shoot.

This one is not for the mini, but rather just for fun. A silhouette overlooking the American River Canyon.

pegelli

Nice theme

1: Beer sommelier

2: Busker, trying to make a living at the supermarket

3: Bangalore city boy

StueveShots

Ooh! Nice choices, Pieter!

grandmaR

I have absolutely no photos that were purposely posed as a portrait - environmental or otherwise. The only environmental portrait that has any relation to this challenge is one I took of my husband when we were first married. He's always been a car guy - our first date was to the stock car races. But he does not like having his picture taken so it fails the challenge on that point. I didn't warn him that I was taking his picture

1) June 1959 Car Guy

2) Dental hygienist

This was one taken because someone in a group I was in asked us to do 'street portraits' of random people, and this was the best I could do

I did take a couple of shots I took of my dad to help me in painting his portrait. But we just went outside on the porch so there was nothing environmental about it.
3) Dad

I put the environment in the painting

slpollett

Most of my environmental portraits are snaps of my daughter or husband.

1. This one of my daughter was taken at the Hope Outdoor Gallery near downtown Austin, TX. https://austintexas.org/listings/hope-outdoor-gallery/7825/ I think there are plans to move the site to a different location this summer, so I have no idea if that is happening or not. It was a very cool location though.
   

2. Near a mountain stream in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.
   

3. A senior portrait at a local park. The setting sun provided the most beautiful light.
   

Sherry P.

lkbart

Great & different theme! Here's a few from me, better late than never.

1. An engagement shoot for this lovely Goth couple, close friends with her family. We took a trip to my great grandparent's homestead where the home had burned down many decades ago but the dilapidated out buildings still stand. I grabbed this shot as they were setting up for a very somber shot, so they were getting their giggles out (I like this shot better).
   

2. Pet the kitty. Sister to #1, she was one of the Alice's in Alice in Wonderland as a senior, so she wanted some shots by this Wonderland wall art
   

3. My dancer daughter at a park
   

StueveShots

Thank you, Lillian! This contest is now closed. I will try to have results up soon.

StueveShots

Results posted. Thanks to all of you!!