#the pose the expression the prop the exposed naval -

[phographic-endevours]

Carte de Visite

Cartes des Visites are a genre of photographs taken primarily in the 19th century in the relatively young years of photography as we know it today. These were taken more as a service to townsfolk rather than a deliberate exploration of artistic value, however in themselves capture the essence of the excitement of taking a photograph as a prized and big moment to look forward to. A good portion of these people were often rural or labour workers, and saw this as their chance to enjoy a moment dressed in pompous attire to later impress their friends or simply keep the photo as a memory to remember. Thus there was a certain feeling of innocence and naivety, as this contraption that captures images was not something they were exposed to everyday, and this is the same approach I aimed to go for in my set of images. I started by briefing my model with this knowledge to try and get him to feel like an excited worker of the day, not too obvious but just a nuance of expression that would increase realism. A set of appropriate props was chosen, they needn’t be period correct such as some buckles and the umbrella as this was a contemporary take on an older style and not an attempt to create an exact replica. Each shot was taken with consideration to creating slight variances in pose, framing and props, but not too different as to keep a constant look of unity between the shots. During editing a different texture was added to the image that best matched it, something like the frontal shot with an umbrella was left almost bare of texture overlay    and sought to express a slight out-of-focus style, as opposed to the shot in the style of a naval officer, there the pose was begging for the most quintessential cartes des visites style of them all with strong yellowing, textures, and a slight blur to the image.