Lee Jeffries is one of my favourite photographers that I have studied for this project. I think his techniques give his work a unique style and really connects to the viewers. His subjects are always portrayed in an emotional and sensitive way, in order to let the viewer pay attention to them and understand them on an emotional level. His use of facial expression on his subjects are mostly exaggerated so that their personalities and feelings are depicted and clear to the viewer. He doesn't hide messages through symbolism but makes them obvious to his viewers; he does this so that the viewers don't have to spend time figuring out the messages but instead focus on the contents of the image and analyse the different techniques in it.
This photograph of Lee Jeffries is remarkable - unlike most of his work, colour is being used in this image. It is evident that the subject's lips are being highlighted through this use of colour as it is the only feature that stands out the most in this picture. By doing this, Jeffries attracts the viewer straight to the facial features by starting with the lips and then the eyes; they are the second feature that stand out. This allows the audience to concentrate on the facial expression of the subject, understanding what they are feeling and creating a connection with the individual in the image. It is clear that Lee Jeffries wanted to lead the viewer straight to the expression and the feelings of his subject as he has not included anything else rather than the face of the subject, he has even included a plain black background to prevent any distractions or loss of focus on the main concept of the picture. The use of lighting is very smart as Jeffries focuses the lights to the front of his subject's face so that shadows are created in order to show depth and detail; this is shown on the eyes where the detail of the subject's facial bones are being shown - this adds to the connection between the subject and the viewer that Lee Jeffries has created.
This portrait is a typical photograph by Lee Jeffries; his use of facial expressions on his subjects is being highlighted in every one of his pictures. It is clear that he is very good with lighting and angles as he must show these expressions with emphasis and show them off to his audience. Shadows are a big element of his work and are found everywhere in this picture - even in the background. As the picture is black and white, the shadows gives this image an element of tone, showing different shades of black and grey. By doing this, the viewer still feels though as if the picture still has diversity despite the fact that there are no colours. Every portrait produced from Jeffries aims to give the viewer the chance to explore the character and his/her personality. From this picture, it is shown that the subject is thinking about something; it is unclear whether it is something positive or negative but the picture portrays him as being lost in his thoughts - the use of his hands holding his head up represents this and this is what makes his work so incredible, he allows his audience to connect to the subject emotionally and put themselves in their heads. Also, like most of his other images, this picture is very naturalistic, no make up or props are used to adjust the appearance of the subject - Jeffries portrays them how they are, representing their true selves in detail.
In this picture, colour is used to highlight certain features of the subject. The background is kept dark and distant from the viewer once again so that there are no distractions to take the viewer away from the subject. It can be argued that this picture is ambiguous; it could show how the old man has been smoking for quite a while as he looks quite comfortable doing it. However, it could also show that he feels old and feels as if he has nothing to lose - his health is already in a bad condition and smoking won't make a difference to him. it is unclear to the audience what he is smoking but it could suggest a form of stress relief, implying that he is struggling with something and due to his rough look, some viewers may conclude that this man is homeless. This is depicted through the lack of grooming and hygiene; his nails have not been cut and look fairly dirty along with his unkept beard. Contrast is a huge element in this image as his bright green eyes compliment his white beard. This automatically makes the picture more exciting and attracts the viewer, forcing them to concentrate on these particular features more than the rest of the picture. It is seen that contrast is shown a little bit further through the red in his eyes, making it hard not to notice the green colour of his eyes and also suggesting that he is tired and has not had a lot of sleep or maybe he is sleeping rough, once more, adding to the idea that he is homeless.
Lee Jeffries does a great job when including every detail from his subjects' face and highlighting them in his work. An example is shown in this picture, where all the wrinkles on this lady's face is highlighted through the use of lighting and shadows, showing the depth of the wrinkles. By doing this, Jeffries invites the viewer to guess how old his subject is, making them feel more personal about the lady. Her glasses is another feature that is added to the guessing of subject's age; it shows how the lady's eyesight is worn out and how she can't see without her glasses. Jeffries has placed the glasses on the lady's nose rather than have her wear it properly in order to get rid of any barrier in-between the viewer and the subject, the fact that the lady has lowered her glasses and is squinting at the viewer makes the connection even stronger and feel more real. The scarf around the subject's head further emphasises her old age as this look is mostly associated with the elderly. Jeffries has made sure that the scarf is not too flashy but clear enough so that the attention of his viewers is still on the subject but they are also picking up on little clues to guess her age.
This is my image, which was inspired by Lee Jeffries; I have used similar techniques to Jeffries in order to produce this photograph. Unlike Jeffries, I have decided to add more colour to my work, this is so that it stands out and looks more vibrant, highlighting the shadows in the image even more. I use the same editing tools on Photoshop so that my subjects look rough and gritty, very similar to Lee Jeffries' work - this has allowed me to portray emotions and feelings through facial expressions, which are highlighted by the gritty look.
Overall, Lee Jeffries creates amazing and detailed portraits so that he can portray his subjects as rough and allow his viewers to emotionally connect to them; by using facial expressions and close ups of his subject's faces, he is able to achieve this. By creating some photographs in black and white and some in colour, he adds diversity to his work but still aims to achieve the whole gritty, dirty look to his images.
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