lady monk © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1991

social  portrait 

painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this reason, in photography a portrait is generally not a snapshot, but a composed image of a person in a still position. A portrait often shows a person looking directly at the painter or photographer, in order to most successfully engage the subject with the viewer.Some of the earliest surviving painted portraits of people, who were not kings or emperors, are the funeral portraits that survived in the dry climate of Egypt's Fayum district Since the dawn of photography, people have made portraits. The popularity of the daguerreotype in the middle of the 19th century was due in large part to the demand for inexpensive portraiture. Studios sprang up in cities around the world, some cranking out more than 500 plates a day. The style of these early works reflected the technical challenges associated with 30-second exposure times and the painterly aesthetic of the time. Subjects were generally seated against plain backgrounds and lit with the soft light of an overhead window and whatever else could be reflected with mirrors.  photography © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1980-2013

young shop keeper © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1990

fashon star  © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1992

julie tomas © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1994

man from kashmir © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1992

abha bahan  © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1992

anand © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1996

bismilla khan © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1993

n.s madhavan © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1993

e.p unny © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1988

mahima rahman © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1994

o.v vijayan © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1992

adoor gopalakrishnan © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1993

m.mukundan © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1994

chacha © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1995

jose © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1995

a.ayyappan © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 2001

g.shahid © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 2013

com.surjeet sing© Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1995

metro ashraff © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1991

v.g abhimanu © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1991

konangi © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 2001

haneef rahman © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1981

yamini krishna murthy © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1985

vaikom chandra shekaran nair © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1983

two nuns © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1999

emma burk-gaffiny © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 2000

r.nandakumar © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 2010

mimi © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1999

pappa lal © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1988

tsl nadar © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 2012

folco naither © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 1997

anil dayanand  © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 2010

fanco © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 2010

big lips © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 2011

s.k pottakade © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 2011

pream naseer © Abul Kalam Azad / 20''x 20'' pigment print/ silver bromide 2011