Assignment #1 - Research on Portrait Photographers PART 2

William Albert Allard (born in 1937)

Tanya and Edouard, Paris, 1988

Girls on the swings, Surprise Creek Colony, Stanford, Montana, 2005

Stephanie Stahl at bat, Surprise Creek Colony, Stanford, Montana, 2005

Buckaroo T. J. Symonds, IL cow camp, Nevada, 1979

Minor league spring training, Phoenix, Arizona, 1990

     Being a National Geographic photographer, Allard’s job was to portray reality and the people he found in those situations. You can tell that often his photographs were spontaneous, and others were posed (e.g. the farmer at the Nevada cow camp). What I think is interesting about Allard’s pictures, is that he doesn’t go to distant lands to find interesting people that the majority of the population doesn’t know about, keeping his material refreshing. His pictures are successful, because he portrays real people living in their environment and this environment becomes part of the portrayal and identity of his subjects. His pictures often also capture unique moments, such as the young children swinging on the swings, which also prove to be relatable to most viewers. The reality of the situations is really what makes his photographs so interesting and let’s his viewers peer into the private lives of his subjects. I also like the bright colours and the great tonal range of his images, which portray the environment really well.

B. Anthony Stewart

Students from Five States Smile Through the Gate of Ashley Hall, 1939

Bobbing for apples at the Martinsburg, West Virginia, Apple Harvest Festival, 1940

Children hear a story about pilgrims in Chantry House in Massachusetts, where the treasurer of the Mayflower once lived., 1953

Scientists Examine Results of Tests of Chemical Pigment in Flowers

Couple Stands Beside Waterway in Blooming Azalea Garden

     Anthony Stewart, much like Allard tried to show the real lives of people in his photographs. What I really enjoy is that he takes a lot of pictures of the youth in his time and shows how carefree that time period was. The colouring of his prints gives the images a very vintage-y feel to them as well, which is very appealing even today. Another thing that I think is interesting, is that around the time he was taking photographs for National Geographic, the photography wasn’t purely documentary. They tried to tweak certain situations, or even stage them, to give the readers a view into these supposed lives of American states and cities. This of course is quite popular today in many other fields of photography (not documentary, as today they’re often more raw), but it reminds me of a predecessor of the lifestyle genre, where people can see a photograph and believe it’s relatable and true-to life, but is actually set up. I think that his images would’ve definitely influenced other National Geographic photographers, but looking at them now, I can imagine it may even influence certain fashion photographers, who decide to follow a similar concept as Louise Dahl-Wolfe, photographing outdoors and using natural lighting, showing the models in realistic situations.