Portrait as a genre of fine art and sculpture has been known since time immemorial. The most interesting thing is that there is also a genre portrait as a variation of the genre itself. It is about her that we will talk in this material, focusing on photography, since this unit has already appeared at the junction of fine art and, in fact, photography.
Definition
In fact, the line between just a portrait and its genre variety is rather arbitrary. Just an image of a man without any events in the background can be safely attributed to the genre of the portrait as a whole. But the appearance in the background of details or other people who have any, even a slight, relation to what is happening in the foreground can already be called a genre portrait. Therefore, obviously, many works that are obviously representatives of portraiture can be as easily attributed to its genre variety. Thus, the features of a genre portrait are the correlation of a character or several in the foreground with the environment.
The photo
A genre portrait in photography is defined similarly. If the background or background does not have a story connected with the foreground, on which a person or several is located, then, obviously, this is just a portrait. However, any, the most insignificant connection, or even just a hint at it, automatically transfers the photo to the category of a genre portrait, naturally, provided that in the foreground one or more people are observed.
A genre portrait, as well as genre painting, looks like a kind of mirror in which people see themselves, comprehending who they really are. The origins of the concept go back to the depiction of scenes of everyday life, that is, almost to the times of cave paintings. Subsequently, such art manifested itself in a visual representation of holidays and other events, incidents, etc. All these are examples of classical genre painting. The concept with the appearance of photography, and then its manifestation as a separate art among its graceful forms, migrated to it, having formed its own laws here. These canons are now followed by photographers who shoot a genre portrait.
The most important law when creating such images was the requirement for a plot. The subjects are often the events of everyday life, random scenes from the context of everyday life, the social and domestic environment of people. Thus, the main difference between a portrait and its genre variety is the absence of a process, action or a hint of it.
Shooting
When shooting a genre portrait, you should be careful to divert attention from the character to the details of the environment, since this can be easily overdone. On the one hand, the environment should complement the image of the model, on the other - it should not be so much that attention is distracted. It is with this difficulty that the photographer who is planning to engage in a genre portrait will encounter.
Conclusion
Summing up, we note that the line between portraiture and genre is very thin and often simply elusive. However, in the latter one can always catch the shade of action, plot, which can be veiled, but cannot be absent. This makes the genre portrait so interesting, pushing the boundaries of fine arts to reflect the life of a person, giving the connoisseur an opportunity to see himself, to examine his life from a new, possibly completely unusual angle. To philosophize with the creator of the image and leave the exhibition a little different. Understanding oneself is better, which means approaching a couple of steps to perfection, for which, apparently, art exists.