Carmen: Faith and 83 Years. Barcelona, 2010.
So, what is an environmental portrait? No, it is not simply a portrait of the environment! Rather, it is a portrait of a person or animal that also depicts some of the environment in which they live, work or play. The idea is that the synergy between the main subject itself and the environmental surroundings will imply a stronger story for the viewer.
Sometimes I wonder if an environmental portrait really needs to include the entire person in the image. Would the above image of mine qualify? I personally think so as I don’t think there are necessarily any rules other than the pursuit of the photographer’s vision. But then, some may argue this point.
The image below is another example of one of my environmental portraits–which, at least for me, certainly evokes a completely different emotional response than the image above.
Man at Work. RMNP, Colorado, 2011
To see some really great work of this genre, check out the wonderful portfolios of Aaran Lee Fineman or Chan Kwok Hung (Gary Chan), the latter a winner of the 2011 National Geographic Environmental portrait category.
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