President Obama's portrait

This is the official portrait released by the government of President Obama. This picture was taken by Pete Souza who is the, new, official White House Photographer. One interesting fact is that this is the first presidential portrait to be taken with a digital camera instead of a film camera.

This is a successful portrait of Barak Obama because of the lighting the photographer used. The photographer decided to not use dramatic lighting in order to show Obama’s happiness of becoming president. If half of Obama’s face was dark and the other half bright, then this image would take on a hole other meaning that would suggest that Obama had a dark or unpleasant side to him (which is not something that a newly elected president would want to be told). Instead the photographer uses not too bright or too dark lighting on his face which creates the feeling of soft lighting. This lighting helps the photographer bring out Obama’s sincerity as he is about to lead the United States of America.

The choice of a background is also a key piece on making this a successful portrait of a new president. By choosing to have the American flag in the background amongst a white wall expresses Obama’s patriotism. The American flag is a symbol of strength which is a quality that the American public would want in a portrait of their president. The American flag is also accompanied by a flag with the emblem of the Presidential office, this shows which position the main subject (Obama) is in. The flags are slightly out of focus, because this is not the main subject of this photograph. If the flags were in perfect focus, then it would distract the viewer from the new president. Instead having the flag out of focus, but still recognizable, shows who Obama is representing and what position he is in, but does not take away from the president. Even the facial expression of Obama is important in this photograph. Obama’s face hides his delight of becoming president, but shows his seriousness and desire to perform his job well.

THE PORTRAIT_POSTS

Please post your example of Portrait, and the critical writing in a separate Post here. The writing should include brief context and bio details - but then move into how it signifies the ideas surrounding the Portrait.

Elinor Carucci

Elinor Carucci is a Israeli photographer. She has several series, “Closer,” “Diary of a Dancer,” “Crisis,” “Comfort,” and “Pain.” Each of these series uses portraits to explore personal themes, such as family life, marital problems, or the chronic back pain she experienced for a year. Her portraits bring the audience into these personal situations and experiences. Her series “Closer” invades her family’s life. She photographs her family in intimate situations and different “home” moments, such as her grandfather in the shower, a finger with stitches, or a toilet filled with menstrual blood. This series is a magnification of the private life that strangers are not usually privy to. It’s uncomfortable and endearing.
Another series by Carucci, titled “Pain,” is composed of seven self portraits which detail her yearlong chronic back pain. In the portraits in which her face is seen, the pain is apparent. The portraits also documents the different ways which she uses to relieve the pain. The picture “Pain 11, 2003” doesn’t show Carucci’s face, however the pain, desperation, and despair in her pain is apparent. She is framed by walls on each side, isolating her body in the center of the frame. Her body is draped over a wooden pole balanced on each counter, with a saddle-like apparatus that supports her stomach. Her back fills the center of the frame, making it the focus of the photograph. Her spine meets her shoulders in an almost upside down cross. Everything comes back to her back, to the focus of her pain. Her back is not only the focus of the picture, but the most interesting part even apart from the concepts behind the photograph. The bumps of her spine, her back muscles, even the continuation of her neck from her hair hanging down out of the frame.


(Elinor's website: http://www.elinorcarucci.com/ Pain 11, 2003 is the last picture on this page: http://www.elinorcarucci.com/pain.html)

Steven Gelberg's artist

This photo was taken by Steven Gelberg and to me is a very soft and peaceful portrait. When searching for a photo this one caught my eye because the subject appears to be drawing, an art all her own, while the photographer snaps a shot of her, his art. Yet, then as i began to research the photographer I became more interested in the photo. Gelberg's work spoke to me more not because of the quality of his prints but because of his own life story and the auto biography on his website in which i could connect to because he is a lot like me in some aspects.

He was born in post war suburbia and was once a nature seeker much like myself. He then became a Vietnam war protester and what he calls himself a "counterculture rebel". After one year of college he became a world transcending Hindu monk then 17 years later went to Harvard Divinity school to study comparative religion then in 1994 photography answered his prayers and set a new path in life for him. Photography became his passion and much like myself he fell in love with the dark room and the energy that comes along with it. I believe that imagination comes through in the photographs you make with your hands, and with the chemicals that make images magically appear. Photography was his self discovery, I believe this is true for me also.

Gelberg's photo of a woman sitting in what appears to be a train station caught my eye mainly because of the looking glass and mirror effect of two artists seeing the world in different perspectives. This is a successful photograph for many reasons. First of all the subject clearly is at ease yet still nervous about maybe the person she is drawing. Also the position of her arm and tablet leave much to be wondered about. There is a sense of mystery because we cannot see what she is drawing, also there is a great tonal range that allows us to see her facial expression which leads to many more questions?

Steven Gelberg

Portrait

Annie Leibovitz was born in 1949 in Waterbury, Connecticut and enrolled in the San Francisco Art Institute intent on studying painting. It was not until she and her mother traveled to Japan after her sophomore year that she discovered her interest in taking photographs. In 1970, she photographed for the Rolling Stone magazine and became chief photographer just two years later. Leibovitz has photographed many celebrities such as John Lennon. She has created influential advertising campaigns for American Express and the Gap and has contributed frequently to the Got Milk? campaign. Annie Leibovitz has worked with many arts organizations, including American Ballet Theatre, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Mark Morris Dance Group, and with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Her books include Annie Leibovitz: Photographs (1983), Photographs: Annie Leibovitz 1970–1990 (1991), Olympic Portraits (1996), Women (1999), American Music (2003), A Photographer’s Life: 1990–2005 (2006), and Annie Leibovitz at Work (2008). Exhibitions of her images have appeared at museums and galleries all over the world including the National Portrait Gallery and the Corcoran Gallery, in Washington, D.C.; the International Center of Photography, in New York; the Brooklyn Museum; the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam; the Centre National de la Photographie, in Paris; and the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Annie Lebovitz took this photograph of Louise Bourgeois. The composition in this image is intriguing because of the way the subject creates positive and negative space. Where Bourgeois’s hand is, really creates an interesting shape to the background. The tone of the lighting in this photograph matches the mood of the subject. There seems to be some parallelism between the wrinkles of her skin and the wrinkles of her clothes that really brings this image together. The portrait only shows a side profile of Bourgeois’s face to give a sense of mystery where the viewer does not really know what this subject has gone through.

I believe that this photograph is a successful portrait because it really captures what Louise Bourgeois portrays in her own work through sculpture. Her gesture gives a sense of anxiety while her face is expressing sadness and despair. Since the portrait only consists of one person with this somewhat depressing mood, the viewer can also draw out a feeling of loneliness and hardship. This portrait mirrors Louise Bourgeois’s own work with suggestions of the human figure and expressions of themes such as betrayal, anxiety, and loneliness.

This is a photograph taken by Richard Avedon during his time in the west photographing regular people in their everyday lives. In this picture, Richard takes a photo of a coal miner after work. Richard evokes a strong emotion with this picture, through the workers facial expression and appearance. The focus of the picture, points straight to the workers face especially the eyes. The eyes of the worker are very hard to explain. Instead of the worker looking at the camera, they are pointed lower than eye level, at if he is looking through your heart or even soul. Since the coal miner is not making eye contact, it’s as if he’s isolated and alone. Just the vantage point of his eyes made me wonder what he was thinking. Whether if he believes he even exists or if life is worth living?

Secondly, his clothing and appearance make a strong impression on the mood of the picture. Since he is a coal miner he is very dirty and tired after a hard day of work. The coal smudges add to his expression, as if he doesn’t care they’re their. Also his clothes including his overalls show that he doesn’t care for his appearance or the clothing he wears.

Avedon exposes his audiences into everyday lives of the people of the west and shows us a glimpse into how they live. Avedon successfully includes the facial expression of the coal miner as well as the context of his job to effectively produce a portrait which tells a strong narrative