This project is rooted as much in the process of environmental portraiture as it is the final portraits. Environmental portraiture aims to capture a subject not in a moment, but as they are as a human being. It’s a mix between journalistic photography and artistic photography, as the artist records a person with great accuracy, but is also responsible for arranging the portrait in an aesthetically pleasing manner. I photographed people that I knew on a personal level, as well as those I only saw in passing. Through this process, I gained a deeper understanding of people within my communities and outside of them. For example, Image 4 depicts Cora, a member of my Jewish community. In the image, she stands at the Torah before her Bat Mitzvah. In that image, I captured her mix of anxiety and excitement at the crossroads of childhood and adulthood. Image 10 shows Jeremy, a birdwatcher from New York. Retired, he spends most of his days scanning the trees. He’s shy, but eager to talk about birds if you engage him. Image 5 shows my congressman, Jamie Raskin. I’ve always looked up to Jamie as an example of what a congressman should be--this portrait is my depiction of that. All my portraits show a person with some significance to my life--many became significant through the process of taking their portrait. Through the process, each subject revealed a previously hidden aspect of themselves, and, ultimately, resulted in me being more in touch with the community I’m about to leave.
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