From Group Photos To Portrait Photos——Individualization And Bodies

This paper is an empirical research about a kind of popular social behavior, taking portrait photos. This paper wants to analysis the change of social psychology and culture psychology which has been reflected by people’s behavior that people have turned their attention from group photos to portrait photos. The author wants to explain why people are interesting in taking portrait photos. At the beginning, the author has made a questionnaire survey for this popular behavior in order to proof more and more people tend to take portrait photos. After analyzing the questionnaire results, the author has known the research directionBy doing field-based research and interviewing research of the people who have taken portrait photos, it’s obvious that there are tow parts of reasons, social individualization and people’s attention of bodies. In the first part, there are three reasons. First, portrait photos are totally different from group photos in the process of taking photos. There is only one person in one portrait photo. Second, people need "the stage belonging to themselves" and "the photos belonging to themselves" because of the influence of social individualization Third, certain crisis due to individualization force people to pay close attention to their bodies. Vigorous and graceful bodies can make people more confidence and release their certain crisis. Portrait photos are based on bodies. People have turned their attentions to their bodies in modern society and expressed their attentions by taking portrait photos. Based on the results of the empirical research and interview, the author has concluded four reasons. First, bodies have important meanings for people and people communicate to the world through the bodies. Second, people are different because their bodies are different. Third, the ideal bodies in portrait photos give people a good opportunity to change their self-identification of their bodies. Fourth, the young bodies have been kept on the portrait photos. This kind of situation can remit people’s fear of death. At last, this paper analyses the reason why women prefer to take portrait photos.