so, many people have been asking me how i take my photographs, whether i have someone clicking it for me or if i have a secret clone of myself locked up in my cupboard. the typical photos which i have posted are called self-portraits. like how a typical self-portrait is a painting of the artist himself, self-portraiture photography is where the photographer is the subject matter of the photo. there are actually many types of photography out there, i hence decided to make use of this post to do up a short guide on them.
self-portraits
as mentioned, self-portraits are photos where both the photographer and the subject matter are the same person. most people have a wireless remote to trigger the camera to start shooting while they are standing in front of the camera. but what i do is to set my camera on timer mode (10 seconds) and then get into position while the beeping of the camera goes off. the camera is also set to burst frames so that it can capture up to 10 shots in one single taking. so yeap, most of my photos are composed in a mere 10 seconds.
if you were to witness one of my self-portrait photoshoots, you might think that i am mentally unstable or possessed. the levitation set i did was a challege for me because i had to climb up a ladder in 5 seconds, adjust myself in 3 seconds, and hold the position for another few more seconds. i really need a remote control haha.
these self portraits are often termed as fine art photography, because most of the time the concept and composition is key rather than the model themselves, therefore some fine art photographers also hire the help of their friends and family members for fine art photoshoots.
one of my favourite and respected self-portrait photographer is alex stoddard, he is an amazing photographer and has been shooting since young. he is merely 19 or thereabouts and he is able to create such wonderful art pieces that are emotional and breathtaking, and transcend all boundaries of time, nationalities and age. he really inspired myself as well as many teen photographers out there to create art with our cameras.
a much more famous photographer who does self-portraits would be cindy sherman, whose photographs dabble on the issues of feminism and female rights/stereotypes.
portraiture
this is the most common kind of photography and the most personal one too, think family portraits, graduation photos, model test shoots, and your passport photo. these are some examples of portraiture which is shot in a photo studio with neutral lighting.
these shoots are normally, for the lack of a better word, boring. the focus of such photos is the subject's face, and sometimes props and backdrops can be used to provide a context for the photo. never, and i really mean never, confuse these shoots for high fashion editorials. model portraits are used for casting purposes and not to be blown up on billboards or to be printed on the front page of a fashion magazine.
flip through the pages of vogue, elle, harper's bazaar and you'll see high fashion spreads, with models in haute couture contorting their bodies to accentuate the structure of the clothes. these are fashion editorials, which are very different from commercial shoots, which i will be touching on later.
fashion editorials aim to sell clothes and to photograph these designer clothes in the best light, with the model merely serving as a tool to bring out the aesthetics of the clothes. usually fashion editorials follow a theme or tell a story and are done in a spread, with one model (or maybe more) carrying through the shoot decked in different outfits. these shoots can be done in a studio setting or done outdoors. both studio shoots and outdoor shoots have their perks. you would have full control of the settings in an indoor shoot, be it in terms of lighting, weather, etcetera while an outdoor shoot is able to spark interest for the audience in terms of interesting backdrops and scenes.
but most importantly, the clothes wear the person.
commercial shoots
fashion editorials cater to high fashion and haute couture while commercial fashion cater more to selling products ranging from beauty products to cat food or even toilet paper.
think covergirl or silkygirl with models pouting their thick luscious lips or batting their cat eyes in an attempt to promote the different products. these shoots are normally done in studio settings to bring focus to the products rather than the atmosphere of the photos.
wedding shoots
most people would have a chance to be involved in a photoshoot once (sometimes more) in their lifetime and pretend that they're models. haha but yah wedding photography can range from indoor studio shoots to outdoor shoots in the maldives or the savannah.
most importantly wedding photographers aim to capture the love between the couple and to create fond memories which the couple can look back upon. unlike fashion which are mostly posed pictures where the models are directed to sell products, the only product being 'sold' in wedding photography is love, hence more candid and natural shots.
street photography
it is a genre of photography that feature subjects in candid situations within public places such as malls, park, streets, beaches, political conventions and maybe toilets (i mean it is a public place, and one's expression can be quite candid if you see a camera lens hovering above your toilet cubicle).
street photography captures human moments, caught at a poignant and decisive point in time. it is very true to life, photographing the different walks of life and in turn capturing the culture of a society in a single frame.
events coverage
if you have an important event which you need someone to record it all down, hire a photographer to do an event coverage. i feel that paparazzis fall into this category too, they cover runway walks and red carpets, and of course the lives of the celebrities. i mean life in itself is a great deal of an event.
travel/nature photography
when going on a holiday or backpacking trip, these photographers are not your usual snap-and-go tourists. each photograph is carefully and creatively composed. these photographers document the beauty of the different landscapes, the flora and fauna, and simply collecting the wonders of the world in their huge storage of photographs in their hard disk or sd cards.
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ok, this is an unsually long post for me. we all learn new things everyday and i hope this post has provided some insights for everyone in terms of photography, although the list is not entirely exhaustive. it's the lunar new year tomorrow and i hope everyone celebrating it would receive lots of
angpaos and strut around in your new clothes. happy lunar new year everyone!
photo credits: alex stoddard, rosie hardy, alexander wang for models.com, about face by studio pr, jeff petry for nuvo magazine, white story for vogue italia, antonio anuk by css studios, taylor swift for covergirl, coco for chanel, allen-scott redgrave, perspectives photograph, navid baraty, maxmosher, david jensen, woman's day, alex nature photography, prowinwall, @knatephoto
