Stephen Shore Research Note

Stephen Shore Research Note 

Stephen Shore was born in 1947 and has been displaying his work for the last 45 years. A well-known style of his landscape photography which are generally of abandoned and desolate places. His work is mainly based in the United States however one of his portfolios was based in Ukraine. He is well known for incorporating interesting colour into his art photography. For a self-taught photographer his work has developed massively from his self made darkroom to books of his work which have been sold worldwide. 

     This image taken by Stephen Shore was taken on July 13th, 1974. It was taken in Holden Street, North Adams, Massachusetts. This image really caught my eye and is very interesting in terms of the location of it. Stephen has chosen to take this image in this exact location because of the contrast between the foreground and background. The foreground of the image shows a desolate and abounded street with buildings that don't look in very good condition. It is the sort of scene you would see in an area which has been left and doesn't have any life to it. The shadow that has been cast over the foreground of the image adds to this feel of abandonment and darkness. This is a really good way of using light to your advantage and within the image the shadow splits it up into two different emotions. The background of the image is something you would expect to see on a postcard, its very aesthetically pleasing and looks well kept. The brightness of the background makes its look more hopeful and happy against the rather depressing foreground. 

      This image was taken on July 18th 1973, in Room 125, Westbank Motel, Idaho Falls, Idaho. The feel of this image is very common, its nothing fancy in fact its quite boring. It is a very different way of looking at a landscape and some people might not class it as one however it is a modern interpretation of it. The photo lacks a lot of detail that you would expect from a landscape however this makes it interesting to me. There isn't a lot of colour within the photo, it is all quite brown and dull but this gives a rundown and desolate feel. The era of the image is displayed very well and could be guessed based on objects within the photo. For example the TV shows that it is aged, even the style of shoe and jeans gives an indication that the photo isn't modern. Overall I think this is a really good photo because its a scene that most people would over look and not find interesting but when taken in this context its a  photo that can be thought about. 





This photo by Stephen Shore is from the 'Uncommon Places' collection. I think this is the right collection of images for it to belong to as it seems unpopulated and quite quiet due to the lack of people and action going on in the image. I really like this photograph due to the distinct difference between the foreground and background. There almost appears to be a gradient of natural colours, at the front theres the blue of the water then sand then the green of the trees. The natural tones of this image makes it appear very attractive and very surreal due to how perfect it looks. To me it looks like a painting because of how every aspect of the image looks perfectly places and the colours tie in well and look saturated. One aspect of the photo that I particularly like is the clouds in the sky as they add a lot of detail to the photo. It means that there is no blank space, all of the image has detail and texture.