Anatomy of an Environmental Portrait
Frank Van Riper on Photography

By Frank Van Riper
Special to Camera Works
Tuesday, May 9, 2006 4:47 PM

Two good rules of thumb when attempting to photograph people in their surroundings:

1. "Half of all location photography is moving furniture."

2. "'Available light' means any light that's available."

Both sayings have been attributed to the great location portraitist Arnold Newman. More importantly, each can help spell the difference between a good environmental portrait and a great one.

If I had to pick, I easily would list environmental portraiture among my very favorite kinds of location photography, right up there with available light, black and white street photography.

One reason I like environmental shooting is that it lets me say something about my subject or, more correctly, lets the environment say something about the person or persons in the photograph. Then too, since a lot of our location work is done on deadline (sometimes for magazines or similar clients) there is a certain frisson of excitement in showing up at a place and having to quickly figure out a way to turn an unfamiliar background into a pleasing backdrop for a portrait.

When I was photographing for my 1998 book, Down East Maine/A World Apart, I did a fair number of environmental portraits. Some were shot on the fly by available light, some were made with a single flash held either at arm's length or on a flash bracket. And still others were made with a full complement of lighting gear, including studio strobes, umbrellas and softboxes. But in every case my goal was to make the final portrait look as much as possible as if it had been shot with no additional light.

One of my favorite images from the whole Down East project was a portrait of a husband and wife in their wonderfully rustic country kitchen in the tiny town of Lubec, Maine, the easternmost point in the United States, and where my wife Judy and I have spent every summer for the past fifteen years. The step-by-step process that I followed to get to the final portrait is in some ways a mini-lesson in moving furniture and in using any light that's available.

Back then (in the mid-90s), most of our environmental portraits were made on film and in medium format. Today, Judy and I might just as easily shoot a job in color or black and white digital as on 35 mm or medium format film.

Another big change in the way we work on location has been the move away from Polaroid proofing--to check exposure, lighting ratios, composition, etc.--in favor of so-called "digital proofing." With the former, especially in the much larger medium format, I would place a special Polaroid film back on my Hasselblad and shoot Polaroids from exactly the same camera position that I would ultimately use for the "real" (i.e.: film) portrait. Inevitably, Judy and I would burn anywhere from four to as many as dozen Polaroids before coming to a perfect final proof that would make us confident that we would get an even more perfect "real" picture when we loaded the Hassy with the good stuff.

The downside to all this Polaroid proofing--aside from the fact that the stuff cost at least a buck a shot--was all the time it took. Each time I pulled a Polaroid we had to wait 30 seconds (or a minute and a half if using color Polaroid). I used to tell clients this was "the longest 30 seconds in photography." Multiply that four to a dozen times and you actually can run the risk of losing a shoot's spontaneity.

Today, with digital, the "proofs" come up instantly, making it a cinch for one to quickly make corrections to exposure, lighting and composition, then blithely shoot away. But--and this is a big but if you regularly teach and/or write a photography column--the digital proofs tend to get erased and forgotten. Those old Polaroids may have been expensive and time-consuming, but they sure provided a great teaching tool.

And that's why I now am able to take you step-by-step through the process we followed to make one of our favorite portraits in Maine.

I long had wanted to picture our friends Mick and Gloria in their marvelous country kitchen, featuring such great "visuals" as a painted linoleum floor and a pressed tin ceiling in a room dominated by a huge wood-burning stove. Gloria was (and is) a great cook and baker, so I wanted the portrait to also feature the pies, breads and cakes that she sold from her house, along with her mouth-watering homemade blueberry and raspberry preserves.

I thought the picture cried out to be square, hence medium format. Since I needed to show a lot of environment, I opted for my Hasselblad Superwide CM. Though Mick was no slouch in the personality department, Gloria was by far the dominant presence and I thought I would picture this by posing her in the foreground by her grand stove, with Mick in the far background. But, importantly, Mick was to be lit by the light from an open doorway, so as not to disappear in the portrait.

In most cases on location, I tend to make an available light photo (#1) to get a baseline image of what the ambient light is. When I want to make use of, or "ride," this ambient light while also using flash, I will shoot at a fairly slow shutter speed from a tripod to minimize blurring or camera shake.

In this case, the ambient light was fairly pleasant, but it did nothing to show off the great tin ceiling. So I set up two bare-bulb strobes on either side of the Superwide to mimic the broad look of window light while also creating enough raking light to show off the ceiling. (#2)

With that done, I was ready to place my subjects. As it happened, Gloria was working outdoors during the setup so I put Mick in the foreground and Judy in what would ultimately be Mick's place by the door. Here the idea was to set the artificial lighting so that it mimicked the natural light from the doorway--a question of simply tinkering with the strobes' output and the Hasselblad's shutter speed. I also saw that the earlier Polaroids didn't sufficiently show off the overloaded table on the left, so I moved it further in to the shot. (#3)

When Gloria arrived, I was able to position her the way I wanted for the final shot, and also reposition the rocking chair on the right. (#4) But there was a problem. Her stark white pedal-pushers not only drew one's attention inordinately, they also were way out of synch with the whole feel of the country kitchen.

"Can you put on what you normally would wear when you're baking?" I asked.

Gloria quickly changed into denim--the perfect outfit for the picture--and I then snapped what every location shooter hopes for: the perfect final proof. (#5)

And so, after five Polaroids, some subtle strobe-lighting, and some furniture moving, I removed the Polaroid back from the Superwide and attached the film magazine.

I was confident I would get a keeper...and I did (#6).

[To order a signed hardcover copy of Down East Maine/A World Apart, Frank Van Riper's Pulitzer-nominated, award-winning portrait of life in America's last coastal frontier, send $35 to Frank Van Riper, 3502 Quesada St. NW, Washington DC, 20015. (Price includes taxes, postage and handling.) If book is to be a gift, please include any inscription or dedication information.]

Frank Van Riper is Washington-based commercial and documentary photographer and author. His current book is Talking Photography (Allworth Press), a collection of his Washington Post and other photography writing over the past decade. He can be reached through his website http://www.GVRphoto.com/

DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS WITH FRANK VAN RIPER

Think of this as one of those way-in-advance Save the Date notices you get about a friend's wedding.

I will once again be offering my 6-week evening workshop in documentary photography and project printing this coming fall and winter at Glen Echo Park's PhotoWorks studio in Glen Echo, Maryland. The fall session will run from September 21st through October 26, 2006; the winter session will run from January 11th through February 15th 2007. Each class goes from 7pm to 10:30pm each week.

The last session of this class, which ended last March, was fully booked and had a waiting list, so those interested in signing up in the future might want to save this information.

In the class students will be expected to initiate or continue a project of their choosing, with the goal of producing a finished picture story by the end of the session. Course includes basic location lighting instruction and practical hints on both assembling a picture story and approaching people in order to photograph them. Students wishing to accompany their photo essays with written text are encouraged to do so. Class size is limited. Early registration is suggested. [Note: Though the class offers hands-on bxw darkroom instruction, students who prefer to work digitally may do so and are welcome.]

On a personal note: I first started teaching this course several years ago and have found it to be a delightful, simpatico experience that can resonate with photographers of all experience levels. It's also held in a beautiful setting: PhotoWorks' newly refurbished gallery/darkroom/computer lab in the middle of beautiful Glen Echo Park.

Additional note: I also will be offering my popular one-day evening workshop, "Flash Photography Demystified," on Thursday November 9th and Thursday Match 1st.

Hope to see you.

For information: 301-320-7757. Or see website: http://www.glenechopark.org/

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