#7 Pay close attention to the types and number of photographic portraits you see in one day. Where did you see them? How do you think that the content of the portrait changes based on the context in which you see the image (news, facebook, magazine, advertisement, television, youtube, etc)? In other words, what is the difference between the portraits you see on facebook vs. those on the news? What is the difference between the “viewpoint” of the photographer in each situation? What is the difference between their “intents”?
I think there are two main differences between the portraits I 'consume' over the internet (facebook) versus in other mediums. On facebook, portraits are ways for regular people to capture activities in their lives. I dont find a lot of interpretive pictures or thoughtful approaches to these pictures. They are simply there to show whats going on in life in general. All the things we are learning about, such as aperture, composition, etc. are not taken into consideration - therefore the quality is compromised.
The second difference comes from other non-internet sources. I can think right now of a few portraits I saw along the highway on billboard signs. These pictures are very high quality, but also very planned. I actually like to look at them because I know that someone had to put a lot of work into taking the picture. In essence, the picture was produced to help people connect feelings with people and companies. Its a marketing tool. When you see the pictures on billboards, you can almost try to decipher what the marketing person is saying when they choose which picture they end up using. "This picture will connect best with our target market because of the casual stance the woman has..."
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