November 2013 portraits

[Alessandro Bocchi]

Verona (VR) Italy - Portrait of Camilla during an Analogic Photography workshop.

- Camera: TOYO-FIELD 45 AII L (Linhof)
- Lens: SCHNEIDER Symmar 150 1:5.6 Convertible
- Exposure: 2 second at f 5.6
- Film: HARMAN FB Direct Positive Paper - 3 ASA - size 4x5"
- Developer: ILFORD PQ UNIVERSAL 1+9 - 3 minutes at 20° C
- Stop: ILFORD ILFO STOP
- Fixer: ILFORD RAPID FIXER
- Lightmeter: Gossen Lunasix 3 reading the incident light.
- Lightning: A couple of continuous light.

- Scanner: EPSON V700 and EPSON Scan 3.81
- Software: Adobe Photoshop CS4

[StoneNYC]

This weekend I was thinking about what a "portrait" is. Is it just a photograph of a person? Could a portrait be a written description of a person or thing? Could it be an image of an inanimate object? So I looked up the definition of portrait:

"por·trait
ˈpôrtrət,-ˌtrāt/Submit
noun
noun: portrait; plural noun: portraits; modifier noun: portrait
1. a painting, drawing, photograph, or engraving of a person, esp. one depicting only the face or head and shoulders.
synonymsainting, picture, drawing, sketch, likeness, image, study, miniature;

More
a representation or impression of someone or something in language or on film.
"the writer builds up a full and fascinating portrait of a community"

synonyms:description, portrayal, representation, depiction, impression, account; More

This got me thinking, could I make a portrait of an object and words? So of course I had to try. Out came the Deardorff and a variety of lenses. I used a very simple set-up of window light and a low power flashlight to "paint" areas that I wanted to highlight. Then I decided that I wanted to use the contrast of Harman Direct Positive paper to give feature to details in darkness and light. And this happened...


A portrait of words by ScottPhoto.co, on Flickr
Deardorff 8x10 + Ross 12x15 + Harman Direct Positive Paper. 1m:20s exposure.


A portrait of words by ScottPhoto.co, on Flickr
Deardorff 8x10 + Schneider 36cm Xenar + Harman Direct Positive Paper. 1m exposure.

So, is this a portrait? I think so. It makes me look closer at something and lets me see things that perhaps I hadn't seen before. It is certainly "a representation or impression of someone or something in language or on film", and I like it.


Tim
www.ScottPhoto.co

I'm pretty sure that would be defined as a still life, at least in terms of photography, however if you wanted to play the border and kind of think outside the box but still along the lines of a portrait I would go with something more like this...

*Warning this is 70mm, not quite large format but at 15 FEET per roll, it's quite large if you process it yourself...*

Only posting this as an example of an outside of the box portrait, not to show my work, as I know this is not large-format, hope that's okay.

[jcoldslabs]

I'm not much for classification and categorization, but in general terms I would consider a photograph where a person is the main subject a portrait and one where an arranged object is the main subject a still life. That doesn't mean you can't redefine the terms however you want, but in a place like this where there is a 'Portraits' thread and a 'Still Life' thread, bowing to those conventions keeps things from getting confusing. Personally, I'd be fine with one giant "Large Format Photographs" thread and leaving it at that. It wouldn't kill me to see trees and portraits and still lifes and water and leaves and landscapes all mixed together. In fact it might lead to some interesting visual juxtapositions.

Jonathan

[ImSoNegative]

a couple I did today of a friend of mine, 4x5 field camera, 210mm fujinon wide open, fp5. reduced development

[StoneNYC]

a couple I did today of a friend of mine, 4x5 field camera, 210mm fujinon wide open, fp5. reduced development

Congrats to her!

[ImSoNegative]

she is a photographer in north ga. she had never had her portrait done with a large format camera, she shot probably 4 or 5 pictures of my camera while i was setting it up, she just got herself the latest nikon full frame digi. what's funny is that the film i used expired before she was born,

[StoneNYC]

she is a photographer in north ga. she had never had her portrait done with a large format camera, she shot probably 4 or 5 pictures of my camera while i was setting it up, she just got herself the latest nikon full frame digi. what's funny is that the film i used expired before she was born,

She was born in the future?

*snicker*

I'm saying that because you listed the film as FP5.. Haha so did you mean FP4 or HP5 or FP4+ or HP5+? Not sure when they added the plus but I know the two versions (plus vs no plus) are different.

[Simon Liddiard]

Agreed! The tone is so right and smooth. Was it on 8x10?

I meant RICH and smooth

[Simon Liddiard]

really great photos, love it!

spammy link removed

Back in yer box, Sir Spamalot - this is a forum about photography

[ImSoNegative]

She was born in the future?

*snicker*

I'm saying that because you listed the film as FP5.. Haha so did you mean FP4 or HP5 or FP4+ or HP5+? Not sure when they added the plus but I know the two versions (plus vs no plus) are different.

oh my gosh i meant Hp5 , everyone that read that might of thought i had some kind of special hybrid film