Challenge #26 - Faces

There is so much joy in capturing a face, be it the innocence of a new born baby, or the wisdom in the eyes of the elderly. As human beings our expressions are constantly changing, our bodies are built for movement, and as such every photo of a subject is unique.

With all that being said, this photo challenge is about faces, the face in your photo doesn't necessarily have to be human! There are many, many amazing faces in the world around us.

Approaches to Portraiture

There are essentially four approaches that can be taken in photographic portraiture - the constructionist, environmental, candid and creative approaches. Each approach has been used over time for different reasons be they technical, artistic or cultural.

The constructionist approach is when the photographer in their portraiture constructs an idea around the portrait - happy family, romantic couple, trustworthy executive. It is the approach used in most studio and social photography. It is also used extensively in advertising and marketing when an idea has to be put across.

The environmental approach depicts the subject in their environment be that a work, leisure, social or family one. They are often shown as doing something; a teacher in a classroom, an artist in a studio, a child in a playground. With the environmental approach more is revealed about the subject. Environmental pictures can have good historical and social significance as primary sources of information.

The candid approach is where people are photographed without their knowledge going about their daily business. Whilst this approach taken by the paparazzi is criticised and frowned upon for obvious reasons, less invasive and exploitative candid photography has given the world superb and important images of people in various situations and places over the last century. The images of Parisians by Doisneau, Cartier Bresson to name but two demonstrate this. As with environmental photography, candid photography is important as a historical source of information about people.

The Creative Approach is where digital manipulation (and formerly darkroom manipulation) is brought to bear to produce wonderful pictures of people. It is becoming a major form of portraiture as these techniques become more widely understood and used.
(source: http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/)

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