1. Martin Schoeller and Sir Cecil Beaton were both portraiture photographers, though they had different styles. Schoeller used a strict close-up technique while Beaton took more candid shots. 2. They worked in different eras, with Beaton in the early 20th century using older equipment which resulted in black and white photos, while Schoeller is contemporary and uses advanced digital cameras and lighting for high quality color portraits. 3. Their photos thus have different aesthetics, with Beaton's conveying nostalgia through black and white and Schoeller's appearing modern through high resolution color. However, both photographed important celebrities of their respective eras.

1. Photographers
Portraiture

2. Martin Schoeller
• Martin Schoeller is a portraiture photographer who is still alive. He was born in Germany 1968. He is now a
New York based photographer who is best known for his portraits & the way he photographs them. He
specifically uses a very close shot of the head, with only the head being in focus (you can see examples of
this are on the other slides). The photographs are of incredibly high quality, allowing the viewer to see
every inch of the subjects face. The different subjects he has used include celebrities & twins. When he is
taking a photograph of a celebrity, you are usually greeted with the same kind of image on the first slide of
photographs. But sometimes, the portraits will feature an object of interest e.g. cello tape, which will then
be used on the celebrities face. Another example of this is photograph two, where you can see Amy
Poehler has a flower crown on.
• Schoeller's work has appeared in magazines such as Vogue, GQ & The New Yorker. He has also released
three of his own photography books: Close Up: Portraits 1998-2005, Female Bodybuilders, Fotographie
Portfolio 54 & Portraits of Twins. He also shot a very controversial cover which shows a mother breast-
feeding for the cover of Time Magazine. He has done a lot of photography in his career.

3. • This photograph is the typical composition of a
portrait that Schoeller shoots 9. The use of a wide-
lens camera has allowed the extreme close-up of
the face that is only focused on his face. The use of
a a shallow depth of field (which is gained when
using a high aperture) has made his ears, neck &
shoulders out of focus. This is quite clearly a posed
photograph, as are most portrait photographs. As
the photograph has been taken in a studio
additional lighting (high key lighting) would have
been used. The use of the lighting gives the
photograph a professional & high quality look. It
appears that the lighting brightens the look of the
photograph, although this could have been done in
post-production.
• Although the human face is not symmetrical, you
would still say that this photograph is symmetrical
as the middle of the photograph is straight down
the middle of his nose.
• Although the facial expression is neutral, you still
feel a sense of vulnerability between the model
and the camera. Showing your face in this way,
knowing it is going to show all your flaws is a big
thing to do. Other than that, there are no
emotions shown.

4. • This photograph is slightly different from the portraits
Schoeller usually shoots. This is a portrait of Amy Poehler.
The reason why this portrait is slightly different to others
he has shot is because 1) she is not looking directly into
the camera & 2) she has a flower crown placed on the top
of her head. This stylizes the image in a different way &
gives the photograph a personal touch, compared with the
first portrait I looked at. Slightly different composition.
• It again includes features I found in the first portrait like
the use of a wide-lens camera, high-key lighting & high
quality camera gives you a high quality image that still
follows the style of other pieces of Schoeller's work.
Although there are some similar features, there are some
differences I have not mentioned earlier. The photo is just
a close-up, compared to the other portrait (this allows the
flower crown to fit in. I have also found that none of her
face or body is out of focus, which is again different to the
other portraits (larger depth of field = smaller aperture).
• Like stated earlier, this photograph is different than
the typical portraits Schoeller would take (examples
of the typical can be seen above and below). For
these reasons, different emotions are shown by the
model. Poehler has blonde hair and blue eyes which
are stereotypically innocent looking. Adding to this
‘innocent’ look, she is looking away from the camera
and has a smile on her face which implies shyness.
The flowers also add again to this feeling of extreme
femininity. She also is wearing white which suggests
purity. If you know Poehler as a comedian, will
probably assume this has been done ironically so the
photograph is funny. It’s quite personal compared to
some of Schoellers other work as personality is also
coming through.

5. • These two photographs are part of Schoellers collection of
twin photographs he shot. He would take a portrait of a set
of twins & then put the photographs against one another.
The style & composition of the photographs are incredibly
similar to the shots he took of Jay Z & many other portraits
Schoeller has taken. This is particular to his work.
• This photograph is the typical composition of a portrait that
Schoeller shoots 9. The use of a wide-lens camera has
allowed the extreme close-up of both of their faces that is
only focused on their faces. The use of a a shallow depth of
field (which is gained when using a high aperture) has made
their necks & shoulders out of focus. This is quite clearly a
posed photograph, as are most portrait photographs. As
the photograph has been taken in a studio additional
lighting (high key lighting) would have been used. The use
of the lighting gives the photograph a professional & high
quality look. It appears that the lighting brightens the look
of the photograph, although this could have been done in
post-production. Although the human face is not
symmetrical, you would still say that this photograph is
symmetrical as the middle of the photograph is straight
down the middle of each of their noses.
• These two twins share an emotional bond as they look the
same. This is the feeling I feel when I look at both of these
photographs side by side. You automatically as a viewer
want to compare them both next to each other. Twins are
usually visually compared throughout their whole lives, so
it seems natural to be able to compare them via
photograph.

6. Sir Cecil Beaton
• Sir Cecil Beaton was a portraiture, fashion & war photographer. He was born in 14 January 1904 & died
in 18 January 1980. He has had many different models & subjects to take photographs, most notably
being the royal family, Audrey Hepburn & Marilyn Monroe. He also shot for magazines such as Vogue (he
would later be fired due to some ant-semantic writing in an image he shot for them).
• His style of photography was never very technical. What he would usually do was wait for the perfect
time to close the shutter to take the photograph. Due to the times he was taking his photographs, they
would always be in black & white. This obviously giving his photography a classic look.
• Like mentioned above, his photographs were never very planned or technical. I like the idea that his work
isn't very forced & he will only take the photograph wants he feels like he will capture the perfect image.
This technique is very organic, compared to Schoeller's work.

7. • This first photograph is of the iconic movie star Audrey
Hepburn. He has shot her many times. Like mentioned on
my earlier slide, Beaton's work is very organic &
unplanned, so I would assume that this photograph was
not planned & she was wearing that outfit & in that place
because that is just where they were at the time.
• Although she is clearly posing for the camera, this is clearly
a different kind of posing compared to most portraits. It a
very natural.
• As also mentioned on the slide above, he had to shoot in
black & white. This has given the photograph a timeless
look. Audrey Hepburn is also a timeless movie star, so it
seems obvious that he would shoot her.
• The composition of the photograph is minimalist, with
Hepburn just posing in front of an off-white wall. This
photograph is similar to the first Beaton image as it is
centered in the middle. Because he has done this, your
eyes automatically go to the centre of the image.
• Hepburn looks very content with life. She isn’t projecting
any particular kind of emotion, which could be compared
to Schoeller’s work because his subjects usually didn’t
project a certain kind of emotion. She is simply posing for
the photograph.

8. • This is one of the famous photographs he took of the
royal family (mother and child in this photograph).
Similar to the photograph of Audrey Hepburn, it is
only slightly posed for, as the background is an off
white colour like the Audrey Hepburn.
• I like this photo as it does not seem as posed as other
royal family photographs. It seems very natural & like
it is an every day photograph. The way she & the
baby are not looking at the camera also add to this.
Overall, this makes a very unique portrait. This is
typical of Beaton's style.
• Beaton’s style is different to Schoeller’s style as his
photographs are not taken in a studio & are not
posed. Due to the the time difference, Beaton’s
photographs are taken in black and white & are
lacking a certain high quality.
• This photograph is very peaceful as the baby is is
the mothers arms not crying. One way I would
describe this photograph is minimalist. There is
nothing featured apart from the mother and child. I
feel like the same emotions are portrayed from this
photograph as the Hepburn portrait. This tells me
that Beaton tries to portray certain kinds of
emotions in his work, like peacefulness.

9. • In this photograph you can see Marilyn Monroe posing
for a portrait for him. Again you can see an occurrence
of themes & conventions that Beaton puts into his
photographs.
• This is a very candid photograph (I assume candid) as
she is topless & is not up against a white wall/studio
setting. Due to the time the photograph was taken in,
it is black & white. The framing of this photographs
suggests Beaton used the rule of thirds to take this
photograph, as her body is not centered. This makes
the image more visually stimulating & also look more
candid.
• Overall, I find that I could take inspiration from both
artists to create a piece of work. The way Beaton can
take photographs anywhere & make them look like
they are posed. I will take inspiration as I shooting in a
house & not in a studio. The way Schoeller creates
image with high quality images with vibrant colours. I
want to incorporate my inspiration from both these
photographers to merge with my own ideas to create
my own photographs.
• This photograph portrays different emotions to me,
compared to the other two Beaton portraits I looked
at. This one appears to be more candid and almost
cheeky. It’s like Marilyn was playing up to the
cameras when Beaton decided to take the
photograph. She appears to be happy so you get the
feeling of happiness from the photograph.

10. Comparison
There are some similarities and differences between both photographers.
1. They both photograph people, making them both portraiture artists. I mention this because you
can tell just from these two artists that within the genre, there are many different techniques and
subjects that can be accessed. For example Martin Schoeller’s primarily features a close up shot
of an individuals face and has a strict way of shooting his portraits, Sir Cecil Beaton’s work is,
although has a particular style, isn’t as strict because he photographs his subject in a candid way
(you can see this from the three photographs I looked at earlier). Within the similarity of them
both being portraiture photographers, you can find differences between them both.
2. Another difference is due to the eras they were both shot in. Sir Cecil Beaton’s work spanned from
1926 to 1979, whereas Martin Schoeller has been active since 1996 and is still active. Due to the
different eras, they had/have access different types of equipment. Beaton used large format
cameras and smaller Rolleiflex cameras during his career. It has also been said that he wasn’t a
technically skilled photographer. The cameras he did use aren't a match compared to what
Schoeller uses. He uses a Mamiya RZ6 camera with 140mm f/4.5 macro lens which uses Kodak
Portra film. He uses lighting also, both strobe & florescent lighting. That kind of equipment wasn’t
available to Beaton in his era. The technical quality is much higher in Schoeller’s work, you can
tell this from his photographs as they are in colour and you can see see when you look at them
that there are many more pixels within the picture which allows a higher quality photograph.
3. Linking to the last point I made, you can see that the technical differences also changed the
visual and aesthetically. Beaton’s work was shot in black & white which typically connotes
nostalgia, which is appropriate as the photographs feature people from the past (Marilyn Monroe
& Audrey Hepburn). Although he didn’t have a choice (or a cheap choice) to shoot in black &
white, it is a key component to his work. The same can be said about Schoeller’s work as his high
contrast colour images are seen as modern & contemporary, which is an appropriate observation
as it is true.
4. Something similar about both artists is that they have both shot important celebrities and figures
from their era. For example Schoeller has taken a portrait of the current president of the united
states Barack Obama, whilst Beaton had taken a lot of photographs of the Queen & the royal
family. I think this is a significant point to make as it shows a timescale of who was important at
these times.