Visual culture Year 2 Journal 5

Photography in the 1960's

Building up sitters, David Bailey

What is portraiture

To create a portrait is to capture the essence of that person, you can do so in many was, a portrait of them themselves or a portrait of something of theirs that directly reflects them.

Some examples of portraiture in specific types of photography are documentary photography, which is chance encounters with individuals you do not know, commonly on the street or in public places, capturing the essence of a the stranger in a single shot. Self portraits, capturing yourself within an image.

Portraits can be candid or completely stages depending on how the photographer wants to represent the person.

In portraiture there are no set rules of how close, where the subject is within the image or even the angel.

David Bailey portraits

David Bailey is well known in the photographic imagery for his amazing portraits. I've inserted a few examples to examine talking about how he sets up the image to represent the person within it.

 This is a portrait of Jude Law by David Bailey.
David has composed this image in a way that makes Jude Law right in the centre, Making the image all about him another factor that suggest this is the plain white background. Jude law has a cigarette in his mouth which can suggest the use of objects that visually reflect the person. The lighting used makes Jude law appear mysterious because you cannot see half of his face. With the image being in black and white this also supports the mysterious look. This image and the way it is composed could be a representation of Jude Law's career at the time the image was taken, Being in the centre of the image. In the lime light.

The image to the left is of the Kray twins. These are two of the most infamous gangsters in English history.  The way David Bailey has placed them in the image shows one twin is superior (the one in the front), the twin to the back looks more reserved and from his facial expression more curious he is also looking into the camera whereas, the twin at the front looks over the camera as if to look over the viewer, which is intimidating given their well known background, with the look of the twins the essence of the infamous gangsters is directly represented within the frame. The lighting also adds to this, the two are lit up from above making the eyes and lower part of the face almost impossible to see in places, this comes across intimidating.

 

This third image is of Jack Nicholson, an actor who skyrocketed to fame after his role in the film version of the stephen king horror novel, the shining. The most famous scene in the film is when his character becomes psychotic and determined to kill his wife and child therefore smashing through the bathroom door and saying the famous line 'Here's Jonny". 

David Bailey in this image as opposed to capturing Jack Nicholson himself has captured his on screen role in the Shining. Cropping the image to his shoulders resembles how he was shot in the famous seen mentioned earlier. The screwed up look on his face resembles his evil gaze in the film also, making him look menacing to the viewer another factor that helps with this is the lighting by darkening half of his face.