Tom hunter
Tom hunter is an artist/photographer based in East London. His work is pretty much entirely documentary based. His series 'Trading Places' is a project based on everyday shops in London. The shops he chooses to photograph are often independent and perhaps family owned businesses. These shops are familiar to most British people so it fairly relatable to the average British person.
marcus lyon
Marcus Lyon is a British Artist and Photographer who explores urban landscape photography as well as some of his most famous portraiture that took him to some of the poorest slums in the world. His work is internationally respected and has allowed him to photograph some very famous faces including the queen.
His body of work entitled 'Somos Brasil' is project exploring the diversity of peoples Identity in basil. He travelled the country photographing a range of high quality portraits of people in Brazil. He placed them on a white back drop allowing the viewer to understand that the image if focused on the person. Not only did he photograph these people but he also took DNA tests so that he could understand the diversity of their background and where they came from. He released a book that was compatible with an app that allowed you to scan the images and have the information and background of this person show up. Lyons work is powerful as it highlights to cultural diversity in Brazil but is also letting us question our own identity and where we come from. His work is socially enlightening and also makes us question our own position in society.
The work of Lyon interests me as it is a very thorough piece of documentary work and is not as brief as street photography may be. His project was not just meeting people on the streets and taking their picture. Lyon made a huge effort to understand peoples backgrounds and there lives. I think the white background is helpful in focusing our attention on the subject and who they are. However, personally, I would not use a white background or a backdrop at all. I say this because I think that someones environment in which you photograph people in, no matter how flat it may look or be, it is completely relevant and necessary in giving you an informed context of the subject. In some cases I would go so far as to say its more important as the subject themselves. This may not be true in all cases of portrait photography, it is all dependant on what you are trying to say and in Lyons case he is focusing all of his attention on the subject and their Identity.I suppose the reason I chose the three portraits above as my favourite is because of the clothing and props they use and hold. Take for example the painters outfit and props. This tells us so much more about him and makes a more interesting photograph. It gives us loads of context in a very simple way.
His body of work entitled 'Somos Brasil' is project exploring the diversity of peoples Identity in basil. He travelled the country photographing a range of high quality portraits of people in Brazil. He placed them on a white back drop allowing the viewer to understand that the image if focused on the person. Not only did he photograph these people but he also took DNA tests so that he could understand the diversity of their background and where they came from. He released a book that was compatible with an app that allowed you to scan the images and have the information and background of this person show up. Lyons work is powerful as it highlights to cultural diversity in Brazil but is also letting us question our own identity and where we come from. His work is socially enlightening and also makes us question our own position in society.
The work of Lyon interests me as it is a very thorough piece of documentary work and is not as brief as street photography may be. His project was not just meeting people on the streets and taking their picture. Lyon made a huge effort to understand peoples backgrounds and there lives. I think the white background is helpful in focusing our attention on the subject and who they are. However, personally, I would not use a white background or a backdrop at all. I say this because I think that someones environment in which you photograph people in, no matter how flat it may look or be, it is completely relevant and necessary in giving you an informed context of the subject. In some cases I would go so far as to say its more important as the subject themselves. This may not be true in all cases of portrait photography, it is all dependant on what you are trying to say and in Lyons case he is focusing all of his attention on the subject and their Identity.I suppose the reason I chose the three portraits above as my favourite is because of the clothing and props they use and hold. Take for example the painters outfit and props. This tells us so much more about him and makes a more interesting photograph. It gives us loads of context in a very simple way.
the portrait-Richard Avedon
2nd response
As I was in a group with two other students we found it slightly awkward and difficult to all take 3 images on our own camera to these images were all taken by another student. However we all took turns to ask people for their portraits and also hold the card. All the editing was done by myself so has some originality to it.
Favourite Image...
the allotment
RAW images below...