Lomography Awards: Human Stories: On the Job

Take this as a challenge to get to know your muses better by highlighting their passion through portraiture.

Coined and popularized by photographer Arnold Newman, environmental portraits offer a more in-depth, revealing look at an individual's life and work. In these carefully stylized shots, the photographer often places the subject against visual elements or locations that best showcase their profession or personality. Newman valued the importance of paying attention to the background. "The surroundings had to add to the composition and the understanding of the person," he said in an interview with American Photo.

For this Human Stories competition, we're challenging you to shoot a compelling environmental portrait. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Strike a Pose: Visit your subject in their workplace, creative space, or home and ask them to pose amid their possession, creation, or location that they relate to the most. For instance, a painter next to a current masterpiece or a chef standing in the middle of a restaurant's kitchen.
• Candid is Cool: Now, watch them pour their hearts out. Listen to a musician playing every note or pay attention to the intricate way a carpenter assembles furniture. While they are lost in the moment, take this opportunity to take photographs of the purest expression of their passion.

Each participant may submit up to 10 photographs. This competition serves as the qualifying round for the Human Stories category of our TEN AND ONE Annual Lomography Photo Awards 2019.

Photo by wil6ka

The Winners

Congratulations to: barbarabezina, Youjeong Kim, pearlgirl77, caglag & lalunexviii.

1,380 Submissions