Stephen Shore
West Ninth Avenue, Amarillo, Texas, October 2, 1974
I’m fond of these kinds of shots – they work on so many different levels – depending on what you are willing to invest of your time to look at them – and I mean really look at them. Yeah, there’s the “one liner” knee-jerk initial reaction… but as you let the image sink into your mind – context / critique /cliche / timing /photographic surfaces physical / mental – all begin to play into the visual experience. And as the book “Uncommon Spaces” reveals both overtly and through looking at the pictures is that it is about sequences and accumulation of imagery – not necessarily just “the image”. Each plays of the other – as is discussed in the book.
Stephen Shore
Beverly Boulevard and La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles, California, June 21, 1975
Uncommon Spaces – is well worth a look – of course. Sometimes it seems to be a well worn path of contemporary photography now – banality – especially considering the amount of effort that goes into actually finding / capturing the “real” banal spaces. This is to say I am willing to accept at a certain level, this work is “not staged” – however the process involved and the decisions along the way – with large format work definitely lend it a finished and calculated -intentionality. But that’s fine – it is his statement about what and where he decided to point his camera.
I’ve noticed a detail in the street / building compositions I am most drawn too are shot at a particular time of day – just when the “primary” viewing plane has gone into shadow – I like it – and I imagine that choice – when given the opportunity – is only one of a few of the “fine tuning” decisions that goes into making ‘em too.
Stephen Shore
U.S. 97, South of Klamath Falls, Oregon, July 21, 1973
