PEOPLE - Fine Art Portraiture Introduction

Fine Art is the term used to define a section in the arts where the producer of the work creates their work according to their own creative vision. In photography, this would mean capturing the image as you want the viewer to see as your interpretation. It differs from the other areas, such as environmental, candid and corporate portraiture, since it allows the photographer to create their own interpretation of the person they are photographing. Fine art is not done for a commercial purpose other than to be viewed as art.


In 1907, Alfred Stieglitz photographed passengers alighting a passenger ship, and his subsequent work entitled The Steerage, became one of the first images to become fine art and bridge the gap between that which was seen as reportage, and that which would hang on a gallery wall as something of interest to look at for its own sake. (See Image right).

I have looked at the work of Kara Walker, who is a contemporary artist who explores identity, race, gender and sexuality. She is famous for her room sized tableau black cut paper silhouettes. She raises issues such as gender and identity for African American people. Walker has received a MacArthur fellowship for her work, which can sometimes be hard to view, for example, in The Battle of Atlanta, she shows a white man raping a black girl whilst her brother looks on.
You can view her work by visiting her website at the Walker art gallery in Amercia using the following link:
http://learn.walkerart.org/karawalker

I feel that using silhouettes to photohgraph people allows you to say more in your own words about the personality of your subjects, since traits of their personality can be seen without any hinderance of colour, mood or other expression. Virtually black and white caused by exposing for your key light, which is behind your subject (Backlighting), then focusing back on the subject creates the silhouette. The camera was set to aperture priority in my images to ensure the depth of field was in focus to the edge of the silhouette. Post production I then increased the brightness using Photoshop CS4 to enhance the overall finished results. The Human Condition not only includes for emotions, but also for the way that humans want to constantly see what other people are doing, how they go about their lives, and this type of work leaves the viewer in a sense of mystery about the subject.