Self Portrait and Portraits Pt. 1
3. Break the Rules of Composition
There are a lot of ‘rules’ out there when it comes to composition and I’ve always had a love hate relationship with them. My theory is that while they are useful to know and employ that they are also useful to know so you can purposely break them – as this can lead to eye catching results.
Candids: Being Unobtrusive
You may want to make photographs of people going about their business—vendors in a market, a crowd at a sports event, the line at a theater. You don't want them to appear aware of the camera. Many times people will see you, then ignore you because they have to concentrate on what they are doing. You want the viewers of the image to feel that they are getting an unguarded, fly-on-the-wall glimpse into the scene.
I chose this photo as one of my casual portrait choices because, in my opinion, it doesn't appear posed, it just looks as though the guy just looked up and his photo was taken. The background is very simple and it appears the photographer used the rule of thirds which adds to the photo.
This photo is very simple overall, having no knowledge of what specifically categorizes a portrait as casual, I would say this one seems pretty casual as the young women is very simply posed with a bright smile.
I chose this photo for my environmental photo because you can see infer from the photograph of a young man and woman that appears to have been taken quite awhile ago by the man that his wife has passed away, leaving him and his many children, seen in the photographs to the right of the man. The environment around the subject creates a sad mood in the photo.
This woman is surrounded by art utensils and paintings. The environment around her added a glimpse into to her life as an artist and added more detail to the photograph.
This photo is this woman's way of expressing self. In my opinion, I think it is a metaphor for how she hides/covers herself, never showing her true self.
This photo has a very strong meaning behind it. The photographer hides her face with the picture, not showing her true self. More specifically, she covers it with a photograph of Marilyn Monroe applying makeup, suggesting that people expect and strive for perfection.
I think I would like to take a portrait of Morgan because she always expresses herself through her hair color and her clothes. I think she would have a very interesting and unique idea for what she would want her photos to be. For my photo, I will most likely take it outdoors but in a more secluded area that's very calm. I enjoy the quiet and when I lived in Seattle, WA, I spent most of my time in the forest exploring so it's where I do most of my thinking, even now.
