Ch.2 and 3 Summaries

Ch. 2
This chapter focuses on the idea of storytelling and narrative in photography (whether it is a direct parallel to an already-existing story or one created by the photographer). The first example given, "Insomnia" by Jeff Wall, uses a set and different angles to tell a story and make the viewer think about a Renaissance-style painting. A few of the examples given deal with death which is always a common theme in story-telling. One such example is Tom Hunter's "The Way Home" which shows a woman drowned and floating in a lake and is a direct reference to a character from Shakespeare's "Hamlet". Another interesting technique for creating a narrative in a photograph is to not show the face of the person in the image. This makes the viewer have to imagine what the person is thinking or doing in the setting shown. One of the last (and one of my favorite) examples shown is telling a story without having anyone in the photograph. It only shows footprints and from there the viewer must create a story themselves based off of the lighting and scenery shown by the photographer. Storytelling in photography is amazing and really allows the viewer to experience the photograph rather than just look at it.

Ch. 3
This chapter's focus is on deadpan photography, or, "a cool, detached and keenly sharp type of photography" (81). This type of photography gives the viewer little to no indication of what the photographer wants the viewer to feel or see. Instead, the viewer is left to look at these "neutral" images and come up with his or her own thoughts and ideas about the image before him or her. My favorite example given is John Riddy's "Maputo (Train)" which shows a desolate train station with an unmoving train beyond the entryway. The presence of only one color (a sickly green) throughout the entire image gives it an eerie and abandoned feeling. There are also numerous examples of deadpan images that show a person with a fairly blank expression. One of the examples given is Jitka Hanzlová's "Indian Woman, NY Chelsea". This image shows a woman crossing a street in her normal, daily attire looking directly at the camera with a blank expression. The viewer is forced to decipher the meaning behind this and must look at other clues in the image (and the series of images that goes along with it) to understand the meaning that the photographer intended. Deadpan photography is definitely a growing field of photography and is fascinating to try and understand.