FMP

To help my project. I have decided to look into Deadpan photography. This style of photography will really suit the type of imagery I am hoping to capture and help convey the specific feeling of my subject: disused, decommissioned, empty. I want to look at what deadpan photography is, where it started, and what photographers helped promote this style of photography.

 

So, what exactly is Deadpan Photography?

 

The dictionary definition of 'deadpan' is something that is impassive or expressionless. In photography, this means that the images produced are void of any emotion. A very simple style that exists as a subject in a photograph. Every photographer is told not to centre their subject and to follow the rule of thirds to compose brilliant landscape photographs. When shooting in a deadpan style, this goes completely out of the window. You want to create something that is simple but very aesthetically pleasing to look at. This sounds simple on paper but is something very hard to pull off. Every photographers instinct will tell them to set the subject off-centre and have a different viewing angle to what the photographer sees on location. 

 

For deadpan photography to be successful, you must ensure the opposite: the subject is centred and the image shows the photographers view of the subject from straight-on, no fancy camera work or angles, simply needs to be pictured exactly as you would see it in real life. A deadpan photograph simply states 'this is how it is'. It is designed to show landacapes in their natural state. Colours within deadpan photographs are usually de-saturated, with muted colours meaning no detailed post-production work is required. The difficult part of this style of photography is the capturing of the images. It will be hard for me to switch off from typical landscape and capture deadpan. It will be a good challenge for me and I look forward to it. 

 

Who did it start with?

 

Probably two of the most famous deadpan photographers in history are Bernd and Hilla Becher. They first began working together in 1959, photographing the German industrial architecture whilst they were still students at the Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf. This series of images looked at the individual structures of different steel and mining industries in the Ruhr Valley. After collating thousands of images of these structures, they noticed that among the variety of buildings - cooling towers, gas tanks and coal bunkers - shared many distinctive qualities. They then went out with a large 8"x10" view camera and again photographed these subjects, but with a straight-on view point. To avoid shadows they only shot on overcast days and in the early morning during spring and autumn.