BYWAYS. Photographs by Roger A Deakins

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With Byways already receiving rave reviews since its August release, many are eager to discover whether another book will follow. It’s in Weston-super-Mare and she’s sort of looking at a poster that’s on the other side of the frame.

But how does the Oscar-winning cinematographer, whose work with Sam Mendes and the Coen Brothers has put him as arguably the greatest of his era, see the difference in his still photography work?

In the introduction to the book, Deakins says, “I am not a still photographer and I won’t pretend to be one at this stage in my career. These images are gathered here for the first time and attest to a keenly ironic English sensibility, while also documenting a vanishing postwar Britain. When I was in art college I smuggled out the key and had it copied so I could go in the darkroom at night. There’s a photograph I took of a woman standing at a bus stop in the rain with an umbrella over her.

It includes previously unpublished black-and-white photographs spanning five decades, from 1971 to the present. If you're watching this, I'll assume you know who Roger Deakins is, and so I won't bore you with those details. After graduating from college, Deakins spent a year photographing life in Southwest England's rural North Devon on a commission for the Beaford Arts Centre. Whereas with a movie, there’s a lot of anxiety because you have to give something—you have to stick to a shooting schedule and cope with situations that you might not be prepared for.Even if you've never heard of the man and are keen on collecting monographs, street or film photography, I'd say it's worth picking up as it's a great addition to any collection. I guess I was brought up admiring the great photographers who worked in black and white, and when I started doing it myself just the processing of color and printing was complicated so I think that pushed me down the avenue of doing black and white. You see it in the bus stop photo, juxtaposing different images with the young girl in the poster and the harshness of the bus stop. We pay very close attention to new, visually striking, thought-provoking imagery, while respecting the long-lasting tradition of photography in its purest incarnation. After page 145, instead of having the last 14 pages, my copy has reprinted pages 18-31 mixed with 145-159.

Some of the images in this book, such as those from Rapa Nui, New Zealand and Australia, he took whilst traveling with James. Considered a master behind the lens, Deakins has made an impact on the industry as he presents timeless works of art through his cinematography. We’ve all had that tremendous, visceral feeling of sitting in a theater, watching a movie, and it’s just so damn beautiful – and I don’t mean pretty – we cannot breathe. I’ve certainly studied photography, different photographers — mainly street photographers and photojournalists, but to say they’ve influenced what I do. Just the pose of the hands and the feeling of the steam from the train, something just attracted me to the image and I just took a frame.Here, Chris Cotonou goes behind-the-scenes in the making of the film's car chase segment in which he arguably topped The French Connection. Tierney Gearon is an acclaimed Los Angeles-based contemporary photographer, known for her free-spirited portrayals of Malibu life. I take a lot of photographs when I’m shooting movies too, but they are usually location or light references,” he adds. At the time, Roger Mayne, the renowned British social documentary photographer, (best known for his depictions of London’s Southam street during the 1950s) was a guest lecturer at the college, and it was he, who galvanized Deakins’ curiosity. His myriad professional honors also two Independent Spirit Awards, numerous Critic's awards and the National Board of Review's Career Achievement Award.