Throughout history people have wanted to have images of themselves or others. Until modern times creating portraits was only something the rich and privileged were able to do and even then portraits were of what the artist's believed or preferred to portray. There are several famous instances of this where a famous person has been painted on numerous occasions and has had such striking differences it is hard to actually gain a true picture of what they genuinely looked like.
Then, in the early twentieth century, camera's began to replace painting portraits for a large sum of money. It became much more accessible to average people and didn’t take weeks of sitting still for an artist and was instantly more popular than the old fashioned way of capturing people.
An example of poorer people in portraiture photography is Walker Evans work in the Great Depression. Evans worked for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) during the Great Depression and captured some of the most iconic images that became symbols of the depression especially his photograph of Allie Mae Burroughs. He said that his goal as a photographer was to make pictures that are "literate, authoritative and transcendent".
Althogh portraits can be stiff and not show the person captured's personality, there have been several photographers that have taken natural pictures showing families in thier homes, not posing for the camera. Diane Arbus spent Christmas with the Matthaei family, a wealthy fmaily who employed Arbus even if though she wasnt a recognized portait photogapher. Arbus produced an intimate set of photos that showed the cracks in the Matthaei family. Arbus spent time with the children of the family and captured the anger and frustration of the Matthaei's teengae daughter.
Larry Clarke was an American teenager who lived in the suberbs. His photos shocked people as he captured he and his friends taking drugs and the violent reality of suburban teenagers that people wernt used to seeing. His photos went against the general view that the drug use, violence and sexual activety between his friends wasnt limeted to the urban landscape. Clarke was able to capture such intimate shots as he was part of the group, not an outsider coming in to take photographs.
The techniques used in portraiture photography are creating the right lighting to create the right mood. In a studio this is done by adding or taking away lights. In a house or outside you have to be aware of shadow made by buildings, other people etc and bright sunshine washing out peoples features.<--- Diane Arbus's picture of the Matthaei's teenage daughter.
