11.09.2010

Discovering portraits...




This week's class was dedicated to exploring portraits under controlled lighting. They photographed one another with a 2-tungsten light kit.

Students have been working on their portrait assignment for a few weeks and have been contemplating what a portrait is exactly. This is one of the harder questions we have come across because there is not a clear and definitive answer. Portraiture is something different to each person and is constantly evolving into new stages of its existence.


To gain better perspective, we looked at many artists working within portraiture like Dawoud Bey, David Hilliard, Annie Lebovitz, Richard Avedon, and Elinor Carucci to name a few. We also discussed the many types of portraiture that exists--like environmental, documentary, fashion, editorial-- and the many different reasons one might have for taking a photograph of a person in this way.


The conversation carries on. Please post any comments regarding the topic of portraiture for students to read and discuss.




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