Portrait+Assignment

MY PORTRAIT ASSIGNMENT:



Steve McCurry

Steve Mccurry was born on August 23,1950 in Philadelphia, USA. He is an American Photojournalist and is recognized universally as one of today's top photographers. Steve Mccurry graduated from the College of Arts and Architecture at the Pennsylvania. He worked for a newspaper for two years and then travelled to India to freelance. He first became famous when he disguised himself in native garments and entered rebel controlled Afghanistan to shoot photos of the conflict happening there. When he left Afghanistan, he had rolls of film sewn into his clothes that he would later publish for the whole world to see. For his hard work and courage, he was awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad. His most famous photograph is the one titled "Afghan Girl" from his shots in Afghanistan. She was previously unidentified for over 15 uears but her identity was later discovered by Steve Mccurry and a National Geographic team in 2002.. This photo orignally appeared in National Geographic on the June 1985 issue. This photo has been widely used by Amnesty International on their brochures and posters.

Steve Mccurry shoots in both digital and film, but has a preference for transparency film .He has covered many international conflicts in countries such as Iraq, Beirut, Cambodia and the Phillipines.



For this photo Steve Mccurry uses colour contrast to bring out the subject, the Thai woman. The shot draws attention to the woman's eyes which seem to be filled with a hard emotion that tells a deep story. This portrait is very soulful and you can tell that the woman has had a long life. The way that Steve Mccurry blurred the background and solely focussed on the woman also draws the eyes to her. Some typical elements of his work are depth of field and colour contrast.



This image tells quite an interesting story. The boy's face is in focus and from his eyes you can tell that he is feeling a little bit scared. Steve Mccurry uses depth of field to capture the boy. He also uses a bit of colour contrast. The boy's skin contrasts with the rest of the background around him. The boy is the sole focus and when you look at this photo your eyes are immediately drawn to this boy's face.

Autumn de Wilde

Autumn de WIlde was born in Woodstock, New York. Her father, Jerry de Wilde is an art and commercial photographer famous for his photos of Jimi Hendrix. She learned photography from her father. She is an American photographer who is most famous for her portrait photos and her commercial work for musicians. She was once married to a drummer named Aaron Sperske and their wedding footage was used in a music video by Beachwood Sparks. She has photographed many CD covers for famous artists such as The White Stripes, Beck, Death Cab for Cutie, and The Raconteurs. Along with producing CD covers, she has also directed many music videos. Autumn de Wilde also documents live concerts and some couture designers.



Autumn de Wilde seems to like using lots of colour contrast. This photo demonstrates that technique very well. The piano bathing suit the woman is wearing contrasts deeply with the water. Also, Autumn is using the rule of thirds. The subject is not spot on in the middle but rather a little bit off to the left. Some typical elements of her work are colour contrast and the use of shadows.



I quite like this photo because the shadow effect used in the background makes the subject stand out. It also causes a sense of depth of field for the image. The shadows seem to make the subject stand out more in addition to adding to depth. The colour contrast is also quite dynamic. The man's clothes clearly contrast with the ball he is holding. Using the prop is also not very distracting, but it is an interesting way to create a decent image.