Situated Selves shows how the once popular studio portrait was eclipsed in popularity by an informal, documentary style from the 1960s onwards.
Up until the late 1960s whenever someone wanted their picture taken — for a special occasion or for the record — they would get a studio portrait. Amateur photographers have been taking snapshots of friends and family in New Zealand since the early 1900s. Until recently only studio photographers, with powerful lights that could create glamourous or dramatic effects, were able to get the quality and style expected to mark a milestone and create a lasting memento. While people still have studio portraits taken today, their popularity has been eclipsed by an informal, style of photography. From the late 1960s documentary photographers moved out of the studio into streets and homes to capture ordinary people doing ordinary things. Their influence led portrait photographers to begin photographing subjects in their everyday environments, in situations surrounded by their own things, doing activities that say something about them.
