Entre o "fotografando" e o fotografado
: um retrato negociado

  • Cristina Augusto Neves (Student)

Student thesis: Master's Thesis

Abstract

In the mid-nineteenth century, the new and enriched middle class enjoyed being photographed extensively - something that was previously the prerogative of the aristocracy - with a method whose mechanical nature seemed to guarantee a direct connection between the sitting person and the image. The disappearance of the ancient canons of prolonged pose and of the called "portrait photography" in the studio, gave way to a gradual habituation by the subject in relation to the camera as an increasingly usual, common and even household object, leading also the consequent "reinvention" and adoption of new practices in Portraiture. The desire to communicate and begin a negotiation process with strangers, as well as the curiosity to enter their homes and their lives, trying to understand who they are and how they see themselves, led to a photographic project and research that questions the photographer's posture and the portrayed person and the choice of a medium surface. In this sense, this theoretical and practice research revisits the theme of Portraiture, more particularly the problematic of negotiation between photographer and photographed in the field of contemporary photography. The group of people with whom decided to work is part of a group of EX (ex-prostitutes, ex-convicts, ex-drug addicts, ex-homeless) who, despite their best efforts and determinations are still EXcluded and in the margin of society. This group is anchored in a movement called "A Life as Art", based in the city of Oporto, where I live. What was drafted was an approach procedure, contact. This work was important because of the intimacy that we managed to create. Shooting and dialogue converge here for the research, hesitant and always singular, of the convenient distance to the “Other”. To build closeness and an exchange, besides the differences and from them; enrich themselves through disparities; adapting the methods and rhythms to the "Other", these are the main elements of a negotiation photography and dialogue. It aims to become a way of social action. Camera, model and photographer form a simple and anachronistic triad, from which is built an exchange that passes both the eye and the body and its transformations.
Date of Award12 Jul 2016
Original languagePortuguese
Awarding Institution
  • Universidade Católica Portuguesa
SupervisorJenny Feray (Supervisor)

Keywords

  • Photography
  • Portrait
  • Exclusion
  • Negotiation
  • Photographer
  • Portrayed

Designation

  • Mestrado em Fotografia

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