NEW YORK, NY.- BYWAYS is the first monograph by the legendary Oscar-winning cinematographer Sir Roger Deakins, best known for his collaborations with directors such as the Coen brothers, Sam Mendes and Denis Villeneuve. It includes previously unpublished black-and-white photographs spanning five decades, from 1971 to the present.
After graduating from college, Deakins spent a year photographing life in rural North Devon on a commission for the Beaford Arts Centre; these images attest to a keenly ironic English sensibility, and also serve as a record of a time and place of vanished post-war Britain.
Although photography has remained one of Deakins few hobbies, more often it is an excuse for him to spend hours just walking, his camera over his shoulder, with no particular purpose but to observe. These images are gathered here for the first time and attest to a keenly ironic English sensibility, while also documenting a vanished postwar Britain. A second suite of images expresses Deakins’ love of the seaside. Traveling for his cinematic work has allowed Deakins to photograph landscapes all over the world; in this third group of images, that same irony remains evident.
Sir Roger A Deakins (born 1949), CBE, ASC, BSC, is one of today’s most honoured cinematographers, renowned for his vast and varied body of work. He has been nominated for an Oscar 15 times and won the award twice for the films Blade Runner 2049 and 1917. He has been given 5 BAFTA awards and been nominated 10 times. Some of his other Oscar nominations are for: Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners and Sicaro; The Coen Brothers’ Fargo; Martin Scorsese’s Kundun; The Reader; Sam Mendes’ Skyfall; and Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken, just to name a few. He has also been recognized by his British peers with 11 British Society of Cinematographers (BSC) nominations and 7 wins. His myriad professional honours also include two Independent Spirit Awards, numerous Critic’s awards and the National Board of Review’s Career Achievement Award. In the 2021 New Year Honours he was knighted as a Knight Bachelor.
“My work as a cinematographer is a collaborative experience and, at least when a film is successful, the results are seen by a wide audience. On the other hand, I have rarely shared my personal photographs and never as a collection” – Roger A Deakins
