Jiri Langpaul

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Svend Andersen's portfolio

Portrait

by Jiri Langpaul (Czech Republic)

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My name is Jiri Langpaul. Last fifteen years I’ve spent working in advertising agencies as artdirector and creative director. In photography I am interested in making portraits of people. I do not have the ambition to become a reportage or documentary photographer and the reason I have atended the workshop is that I want to understand the craft from all sides.

Portfolio from the Documentaire workshop with Patrick Zachmann, October 2012.

Written review by ERIK VROONS,
Editor-at-large for GUP Magazine

The student, Jiri Langpaul, obviously has had training in the technical aspects of portrait photography (use of studiolight, positioning of sitters, background control etc) and indeed, has a longstanding career in advertising/art directing/creative directing.

Jiri states that he has no particular interest in becoming a reportage or documentary photographer – although portrait photography can be a useful genre in the latter.

When it comes to creating a series, a conceptual approach is essential. Although several parameters have been set – also due to the technical skills already mastered by Jiri – there are still a wide variety of ‘styles’ recognizable within the range of pictures produced for this workshop. This makes it difficult to recognize the work arriving from one and the same photographer/artist.

In other words, what is lacking is a consistent visual ‘signature’. Sitters have been photographed from different angles, positions, and artistic approaches (e.g. b/w versus colour, post-production techniques). My favourites in the series, for example, are picture no 2. and picture no. 6 because they show a deviation from ‘normal’ portraiture; they express a personal approach on the matter from the photographer, distinct from regular formal concepts in photography.

To my understanding, there is no such thing as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ photography. Not on beforehand at least. What I consider ‘good’ are portraits that are 1. Referring to the worldview or individual artistic expression of the maker and 2. Reflect something singular and idiosyncratic of the sitter; the photographer succeeded in stressing certain personal characteristics of the portrayed person. This means that the quality of the photographer is in instantly recognizing the elements that radiate from a person, even when being a stranger, and next, to capture these characteristics with the support of technical decisions.

Now, the challenge for Juri would be to capture the ‘persona’ within a pre-set limited range of technical decisions made on beforehand. I can see that this is also what the photographer intended to do, but the execution is not yet decisive enough. As a painter, more consciously choose the tools and buttons on your post-production ‘pallet’ and have the sitters in a mode that is consistent and recognizable throughout the series.

Finally, I would like to ask the photographer to be more aware of what it is exactly that he/she wishes to subtract from the sitter; a certain intensity that can be felt throughout the series. So before it has been decided that the background is dark/black, and the sitters are supposed to blend in with the background, and the light parameters are set, when all these conceptual decisions have been made, please have already in mind what you wish to establish with the series; what you want to say with it all, artistically (you do not need to put this in words, literally, but at least have it clear in your head).

The stricter these conceptual pre-decisions, the better the individual characteristics come out and the easier it will be for the viewer to recognize a range of portraits as a series. All people are different and that is what we like to see reflected.