Yousuf Karsh’s portraits are predominantly black and white. They consist of mostly just the subjects head/chest in the picture. It is clear that many of these subjects pictures were taken many years ago. Shows how the quality and impact of photographs in that era are not effected by time. All his pictures are very similar in characteristics, he has a very distinct style. My favorite portrait that I saw is of Joan Crawford 1948. Despite the era in which it was taken it doesn’t look like an old photo, it looks so elegant and timeless. The contrast of her dark hair and dark clothing is very nice against the white/grey background.

Nadav Kandar seems to have more styles than Yousuf. He is not confined to one photographic look. Although he has varying styles he does have a series very similar to Yousuf’s style called the Holocaust Survivor series. In this series he is using the same characteristics as Yousuf’s black and white portraits. The predominant use of the subjects head in the photo as well as very dark background contrasted by their face. In his Solitary portraits he also has more photos portraying this specific style but also has portraits that look similar but has use of color. Nevertheless, the colors are dull not straying too far from black and white. My favorite portrait is the Barack Obama I, 2009. It’s very up close and personal with a very high contrast in the eyes making it the focal point.

For upcoming portrait assignments I definitely want to emulate the very close and personal portraits that seem to have a strong message or feeling of some sort like the Obama portrait. A portrait photograph that convey’s an emotion.