MBerri Photography: challenges

On my 3rd photo assignment I had to do a photograph related to what is know as "Deadpan" photography. Referring to a "Plain lack of expression" from the part of the individual being photographed and the detachment of the photographer from the subject. Usually photographs are pretty much posed, but in this case the subject is probably in a natural state on a plain expression/ emotionless expression.

Rineke Dijkstra is a Dutch photographer and a great example of a portraiture photographer who focuses on deadpan photography. Her works have been showcased at the Guggenheim Museum in NYC. Here is the website where you can find her latest work installments at the museum. Below are some of her works.

Rineke Dijkstra "self portrait" after a swim. This show her exhaustion and expressions after swimming.

Rineke's photographs are so raw and simple. I really enjoy her work.

For my version of "Deadpan" I photographed my friend Johanan Colon who by the way I enjoy photographing. He has been the subject of my photographs a couple of times now. Here is the final product.

Johanan Colon

I kinda got carried away with the location we were shooting at that I just took a couple of non-"deadpan" photographs.

I really enjoy doing portraiture. Being this close to the subject can tell you so much about them and one can even see sides of that person that you have never seen before. In my opinion portraiture is also open to interpretation in a way. The viewer may ask questions such as:

What is this person thinking?
What emotional state the subject is in?
How is the subject feeling?

All this questions may be asked more often with "Deadpan" since the subject is showing little to no emotion.

You can visit my Facebook page HERE
You can visit Johanan Colon's blog and learn from his creative side and also read my recent feature HERE

Thanks for reading.....
M.Berri

I'm creating this blog to share my passion for photography. I'm a photographer based in Florida with my goals set on moving to NYC to further grow my career. I'm also a student at the University of Central Florida working on a photography BFA.

I have always had a thing for photography since I was around age 12, but my passion kinda disappeared (or probably hid from me) when I got into sports in middle school and instead of a photographer I wanted to become an Olympian. Track and Field became my new passion and I had set my goals to become a professional and go to the Olympics. I kept my passion for the sport all the way to high school. Everything was going well until my family decided to move from NYC to Florida. In NYC there is track and field all year around (outdoor and indoor season and cross-country) in Florida it's only one season. I kinda lost interest on the sport after awhile and I didn't bother to keep training after the season was done. For some reason the motivation I had before was starting to slip away. I had the talent but my coaches didn't seem to care, but if they did I wasn't seeing their interest in my future. My dream of becoming an Olympian completely faded and my new goal was to help those who would get injured on a sport rehabilitate. I wanted to become a Physical Therapist I wanted to help people and I wanted to be around people who were trying to get back on their feet, specially athletes. All of a sudden an urge to help became part of me, and right after I graduated from high school I enrolled in college and began my path towards Physical Therapy. Everything was going great until I found a photography website a friend of mine had told me about (I don't remember the name of the website), and everything kinda came back to me, rushing through me. I saw every photograph on that website and I was amazed by the beauty of it all. After looking at the website I wanted to take beautiful photos too and I started doubting myself and thinking if the path I was following was the correct one. I wasn't doing so well in school anyways, I hated all the chemistry classes I was taking, I hated math, I loved biology and humanities though, but everything else I hated. I was half way through my last year of college (I was doing my AA so only 2 years).

One night I sat down with my boyfriend and I told him everything I was thinking and what I was planning to do. I needed some advice and comfort on what I was planning on doing was the correct thing to do. He supported me on my decision and I love him for it. He told me everything was going to be fine and that life is all about taking chances a they come and trying to make the most of it. He also told me that if I loved photography then that was the right path for me. It was a long and emotional conversation for me because even though I was ready to take that chance I also wanted my mom to be proud of me and the career I have chosen. My mom is one of the most important persons in my life and her opining and approval are important to me, so when I told her about my decision and she didn't approved. I was very upset by this, but then I realized that this is my life and that I'm the one making this decision and if I had the courage to stop something I wasn't feeling accomplished with, then I could make this decision without her approval. And so I did, I finish my last year in college with an AA degree and I enrolled at UCF under Arts major. I will be showing my portfolio next year(hopefully) so I can get into the BFA program.

People have asked me "Why are you studying photography if everything about it you can learn it online and with workshops?" my answer to them is that I do want a college degree and that I know that not everything there is about photography I will learn in school. That's why I'm always searching on the internet and looking for better ways to better my photography skills and to be inspired.
I get a lot of my inspiration from a lot of photographers such as Ansel Adams, Annie Leibovits, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Joel Robinson (aka. Boy_Wonder on Flickr) just to name a few. Recently I came across the blog of Narrimi , her photos are so beautiful and real in the way the natural light is use, the colors are so vivid and there is so much feeling portrayed in them. Her photographs are very inspiring to me.

I wasn't expecting this first post to be so long, but there it is part of the story of my life.

Enjoy reading :-)