Exhibition Night – “People Portraiture”

Entries for this theme will depict images that fall under the following description.

Definition – The process of painting a picture or taking a photograph of a person is called portraiture. If an art exhibit only includes pictures of faces, you can describe its focus as portraiture. Portraiture is the art of making a portrait, which is a close study of one person. Within the field of portrait photography, there are four main approaches: Constructionist, Candid, Environmental, and Creative.

• Constructionist
  Seen as the earliest form of portrait photography. Constructionist Portraiture involves a photographer creating or directing a moment with their subject(s). The photographer directs the subject to pose in a specific way that conveys the meaning or feeling that the photographer is attempting to achieve. Advertising photography, fashion photography, some, not all, studio portraits, headshots, and stock images are an example of this approach.
  
  
• Candid
  

  Candid portraiture is used to photograph people behaving naturally or living their life uninterrupted. These portraits often lack preparation of the subject or scene prior to being photographed. It can involve photographing people without their knowledge or prior consent. Street photography often involves candid portraiture where people in the public domain are photographed discretely. This portraiture approach can be controversial as it can document individuals in compromising ways and be exploitative. Candid portraiture can also be applied to document events where subjects are aware of the presence of a photographer but may not be aware at all times of when they are being photographed.

• Environmental
  

  A photographer can combine both constructionist and candid approaches to create environmental images by providing the subject with some direction but photograph moments candidly as they occur. These types of portraits use the environment and surrounding details to tell a story about the subject. The background and details are often in focus and are just as much part of the portrait as the subject themselves. The subject can make eye contact with the camera or be captured in an action. Examples of environmental portraits could include a craftsman in their workshop, a chef in their kitchen, or a doctor in an examination room etc.

• Creative
  

  While the approaches above by no means lack creativity, Creative Portraiture often refers to images that go beyond a single frame taken within a camera. Often creative portraiture combines images and other elements to create a final result also known as composite images. This approach also applies to images that have been heavily edited whereas other approaches may remain more or less “straight out of camera”. Prior to digital photography, darkroom techniques like dodging, burning, and masking allowed for more creative manipulation of images. Nowadays creative manipulation of an image is colloquially referred to as being “photoshopped” referring to images that have been manipulated in some way, often beyond reality, using software such as Adobe Photoshop.

So there you have a basis of scope to take in mind when you are preparing for and taking your photos for this exhibition. 

Rules

• Photos must be your work
• the 2 year rule does NOT apply
• Photos can be colour, black & white or any monochrome colour and no limitation to digital manipulation.
• Maximum of Two Images per Member.
• All Images should be framed with Passe-partouts /Matts

Voting

• Members of the public will be asked to vote on their favourite three images to accolade the top three images and respective photographers
• Presential votes will count toward this year’s Order of Merit.

Deadline for Entries

• The deadline for primary entry title submissions is Thursday the 14th of September 2023 – (please email your image title and image format Landscape/Portrait to the usual e-mail address).
• Additional calls (Subject to space availability) for secondary entry titles can be sent in by Thursday 21st of September 2023.

Frame Change Thursday

• Frame Changing will take place on Thursday 28th of September between 10:00 -12:30 

Exhibition Night

• Gallery Doors open at 19:00 on Friday 29th of September 2023

We look forward to seeing your entries.