Chapter 6 is about Portrait in photography.
Points to the fundamental ambiguity of portrait photography that you don;t know who or what precisely is being photographed - in a way it so the denotative and connotative elements. The portrait "is both the description of an individual and the inscription of social identity." (John Tagg).
Daguerreotype lent itself to portraiture because it produced a single image. The studio was known as an 'operating room', suggesting that using daguerreotype was a process.
Julia Cameron was typical of portrait photographers who emphasised cultural stereotypes - men were given signature and approval, women beauty and passivity.
Hill and Adam took portraiture to social significance. Sander was example of a photographer who could define a personal history within a frame of reference.
Four US photographers made problem of identity central to their work:
Mabblethorpe - gay. Characterized by self portrait encased in wire mesh and silky material;
Cindy Sherman;
Avedon and Arbus, both metamorphosed from fashion photography.
