Colin Pantall's blog: How not to Photograph: Deadpan

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Colin Pantall's blog: How not to Photograph: Deadpan:
"Worst of all is the last look, the this-is-not-a-look look, the one where the photographer says something like 'Be expressionless'or 'Empty your mind' or 'Think about nothing?' This is not the same as thoughtfulness or introspection or attendance-elsewhere, this is an attempt by the photographer to portray the subject/victim as an empty vessel upon which the photographer can project their own thoughts, ideas or desires.

To what end I'm not sure. There's not much happening up top for most of us at the best of times. This doesn't make us interesting people, quite the opposite. Emptying our minds of everything makes us even less interesting, even if we do it convincingly."