Portrait

Portrait 

ELLIOTT ERWITT 

Erwitt was born in Paris of Jewish-Russian immigrant parents. In 1939, when he was ten, his family immigrated to the United States. He studied photography and filmmaking at Los Angeles City College and the New School for Social Research, finishing his education in 1950

Erwitt served as a photographer's assistant in the 1950s in the United States Army while stationed in France and Germany. He was influenced by meeting the famous photographers Edward Steichen,Robert Capa and Roy Stryker. Stryker, the former Director of the Farm Security Administration's photography department, hired Erwitt to work on a photography project for the Standard Oil Company. He then began a freelance photographer career and produced work for Collier's, Look, Life and Holiday. Joining the Magnum Photos agency in 1953 allowed him to shoot photography projects around the world.

What I like about Elliott's work is that he thinks of different ways to take a portrait photography,and just looking at his work is getting me to think of different ways I could do my portrait,I love that its in black and white,Most of my own work is in black and white as i prefer my pictures this way.  What caught my eye about this picture is how half of her face is behind that glass which creates a distortion which takes portrait out of its boundaries by using unique and fresh ideas. i like how the reflection of the glass on the table shows a normal face but when looking thought the glass you can see the distortion.  I like how it has this vintage feel it has this by the style of her hair which is a victory roll it is a 50s hairstyle.

 

this is another picture by Elliot which again is in black and white. this has a strong meaning behind it when i look at this picture it shows me that she may not physically look harmed, bruised or cut but on the inside shows all the cracks. This image is quite potent and dramatic. The black and white plain colours almost streamline the image. Simplifying the image and directing your attention more towards the actual subject and forcing you to think deeper about what's actually going. The shattered glass also seems somewhat symbolic. Is it the child's shattered dreams? Ego? Maybe the abuse the or experiences the child had earlier distorted his view of the world, and that's what the shattered glass connotes.

When I was coming up with ideas for portrait I was looking at runway models and how they have this moody look about them and I wanted to do something like that I think it would bring out diffident tones and shadows in the picture and I was going to enhance that by going into photo-shop and making the picture dark, by moving the levels and making it darker and I'm glad I did I got this raw picture but I had to put it into black and white I didn't think it worked as well in colour when I was taking this I had about 5 studio lights all lights on full to get the brightness on the one side and I couldn't be happier with the way these come out,I used Canon EOS 5D Mark II,I had all my lights on the right side of my model just in really have that sharp light and have that really dark cast of shadow on the other side,If I was to re do this I would really change anything about it I am more than happy with the out come and how I edited up in photo-shop I didn't do much really I just moved the colour balance down I will say this it was much darker than this but I had to lighten it back up because when I printed them out you couldn't see a thing so I had to lighten it up but even doing that I still liked the out come I did a few of these of her looking kinda moody and not interested in the camera,I didn't used flash as it wasn't needed for this picture and it was pretty well lit,I had the ISO-100 and focal length 7MM, I think the main focus point of this picture is the high part of the model cheek,that's where the light hits the most and when you look at the picture,That's where your eye go straight away and I also if you look into her eyes you can see the lights and I really like that I didn't men for that to happen but I really like that little detail.

When was doing different poses for portrait I wanted my model to have dark eyes and slick back hair because I got the idea from the runway models and I wanted to kinda do something like that but in portrait away and I wasn't sure with this one when I was picking them because of the light in the back but I kinda like it,It had this raw feeling to it and that's what draw me to this picture I also made this one dark like the other one but not as dark,because I wanted to have a ligher feeling and not so moody and serious,It still has this seriousness about it but its more sorter look I did the same in photo-shop as the first one but I didn't make this one too dark like the last one I only had to make it darker and then I put a black and white filer on top,I used Canon EOS 5D Mark II and I had F stop on F/6.4,I had ISO-100,If I was to of redone this I would of had more lights showing in the background,I think for me having something in the background is very different I normal work with a blank canvas so I really like how its something so simple makes it look so much different,I think the main focal point is the same as the first one the one side of her face which is lit up by the light,When I was playing around in photo-shop I didn't think it looked as good as it dose in black and white I think the grey tones really bring the picture to life and has this that block black behind the light which I like as well,but like I said I wouldn't change anything about this only just add more lights in the back.

Shoot dates 

15/01/2016

25/01/2016