Sun 15th May 211. Stephen Shore. Deadpan Experience

For our 'Photography as Contemporary Art' project I knew exactly  which category I wanted to explore. I knew I found it aesthetically pleasing but for the life of me I could not understand why I was drawn to it so strongly. When researching deadpan photography I started by looking at one of its original and best known practitioners, Stephen Shore. A bit of a child prodigy as far as photography is concerned Shore sold three of his works to Edward Steichen at the tender age of 14. To some Shores works could be classed as documentary photographs, seldom are people present in the images that he produces and when they are they tend to be incidental to the subject as a whole.

Fig 1. El Paso Street, El Paso, Texas July 5th 1975

Fig 1. is a classic example of Shores style. Light is registered entering from the side, this helps explain the special saturated  quality that light has in his work. Colour is really a quality of light for him. By using this side light technique he subdues the potential tendandency for colour's to become harsh. Natural light stimulates the whole of the space in his pictures. Another signature of his work is his arrangement of objects in the foreground that provide links with the background. As I have discovered, deadpan is not an easy aesthetic to achieve.

Finally it is my belief that deadpan photography speaks to me on a spiritual level. It echoes the isolation and separateness I feel as part of the fractured society that I live in today.

It has been said that 'Engaging yet ambiguous, deadpan photography provides a refuge from emotion in a time of worry'.

Reading :              http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/11/04/heres_looking_at_you/

http://www.keenpress.com/blog/?p=626

Image:  http://www.masters-of-photography.com/S/shore/shore_el_paso_full.html