Aiden,

This is an excellent start for your project. I like your discussion of Shore’s reflection on what he was seeking to do when he took the photographs that make up American Surfaces. The examples of photographs that you chose are really good, directly relating to the issue of seeing (as compared to looking). I think that you will be able to take photographs that address a number of these issues very successfully.

DDM

Aidan,

You’ve made superb progress on this project. Your analysis of Shore’s approach and the way you plan to take pictures–seeing and looking–is excellent. Since you’re already uploaded a number of the photographs you took, I can tell that you’re doing a very good job. I particularly like a number of your walking photographs as well as several of the food photos.

DDM

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Thesis & Background

Stephen Shore – American Surfaces

Stephen Shore was born in 1947 in New York City and was the only child of Jewish parents. In 1953 at the age of 6, he began to develop and print family negatives and then received his first 35mm camera a few years later. In 1958 he was given a copy of Walker Evans’ American Photographs which really influenced him. Shore met and spent a lot of time with Andy Warhol and other creative people who also influenced him. He is the first living photographer to have their work put on display at The Met. 

Shore was innovative because he was one of the first artists to really use color photography at a time when black and white photographs were considered the serious work. Shore is the “anti – Cartier-Bresson” because rather than looking for the decisive moment, he is very focused and drawn to the everyday and the ordinary. Not only is Shore’s work different to Cartier-Bresson, it also appears to be a conscious effort to be different from photographers like Saul Leiter, Robert Frank, and Danny Lyon. It shows how wide the medium is and how different photographers can take pictures of similar things from very different perspectives. This project as a whole also shows that even the same photographers work can be interpreted entirely differently by two different people. 

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When describing his own work, Shore talks a lot about “looking”. In an interview with Guide to Unique Photography Magazine, he said “So, for American Surfaces, one of the things that I had in mind was to take a picture that felt less mediated by convention and so what I did was, whenever I thought of it during the day, I would take essentially a screenshot of my field of vision. I wanted to try to just see, ‘What does looking look like? What is the experience of seeing like?’ and use that as a reference for how to put a picture together.” This gives a lot of insight into Shore’s approach to photography and what he was trying to capture. He is very interested in just capturing things we see everyday and capturing typical fields of view. 

His Jewish background definitely contributed to his approach to photography. He grew up in a working class family in New York which was very normal for lots of people who grew up in similar situations. When he traveled the country and took pictures for American Surfaces he was drawn to ordinary things for working class Americans, like pictures at gas stations, or even simply a plate of food about to be eaten. 

It is very clear that the time Shore spent with Warhol had a large influence on his artwork. Much of Andy Warhol’s most famous work comes from making art out of everyday objects like his Campbell’s soup paintings. This influence is clear in Shore’s photography as evidenced by his tendency to take pictures of everyday objects. 

Shore’s work captures my eye because of how simple his work often makes life appear. Often in life we are so caught up with anticipation and longing for the big moment, we do not allow ourselves to enjoy the simple, ordinary moments that make up the majority of our lives. Shore’s focus on the ordinary gives the viewer an appreciation for the simple and ordinary. His work allows us to observe moments from a first person perspective that make it seem as if we were there. The subjects in his work are often objects including food, buildings, signs, furniture, and toilets. The central theme throughout the work goes back to this question of “what does it mean to look and to see?” His photographs give the viewer a newfound appreciation for using their eyes – something that people do for every moment they are awake. Shore explores this theme by becoming aware of certain things he was looking at. He said, “whenever I thought of it during the day, I would take essentially a screenshot of my field of vision.” I think this was effective because of the colors and compositions he uses in his work. Shore’s photos are in color and often include bright shades of red and orange. Since they are composed from a typical field of vision they are often aesthetically pleasing because he takes pictures of things we are used to looking at. Shore’s images relate to Jewishness in the fact that he is specifically taking pictures of the ordinary. This is similar to Jews in America who are trying to assimilate and fit in and who are caught in a unique balance between being outsiders and insiders. Shore’s work is iconic because he is one of the first photographers to use color and because of his choice to take photos of a subject matter that is so different to the norm. His work is relevant today because it reminds us to find beauty in ordinary everyday viewpoints. Photography is a universal language and if we all see the beauty in the simple things in life we are all connected. 

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Methodology

The method used by Shore involved trying to capture “seeing” and “looking.” This is reflected in his work as the viewer often sees the content of his work from a point of view that we would expect if we were standing next to him while he was taking his pictures. This means that Shore often took his pictures at eye level; if he was standing the picture is taken from the height we would expect his eyes to be, and if he was sitting (in a car for example) the view appears to be on an eye level as if the viewer is in the car with him. 

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In the above images, the viewer can imagine that they are sitting in the passenger seat on the highway looking out at the road ahead of them, or filling their car with gas at a gas station and looking across the street. These images show exactly what Shore was trying to capture – simply capturing images of how we see the world. 

Shore’s method of photography was unique but it will give me a wide variety of subjects to take pictures of. Shore’s photography isn’t limited to a small number of subjects. In his work we see pictures of landscapes, of people he had pose, of people he didn’t have pose, and even of simply plates of food. This gives me a large range of things to choose from to photograph. I think I will take pictures of landscapes, posed people, food photographs, and other things that I see fit, as long as I am able to capture what “seeing” looks like in these images by taking a screenshot of my field of vision. I plan on having my cell phone with me which doubles as a camera and to take pictures throughout the day when I see an opportunity to capture something to “see.” Obviously, not everything will be worthwhile of a picture, but you never know when a good opportunity to capture a moment will come. 

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[su_tab title=”Photo Analysis”]

Photo Analysis

Gallery:

Selected Photos:

Slideshow 1 (Shore’s photos)

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Slideshow 2 (Bobrow’s photos)

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”186″ gal_title=”Bobrow 2″]

Analysis: 

There is an old saying that says something along the lines of you can never know how someone is feeling until you put yourself in their shoes. After taking pictures in an attempt to emulate a professional photographer, I think this saying is similarly applicable to art. We can get an idea of what a photographer is trying to capture from looking at their work or reading interviews where they account their methods, but the best way to truly learn their process is for one to try and take pictures in their style. 

After researching Shore’s methodology it is apparent that he is attempting to capture what it is like to see. In order for me to emulate this, I kept a camera with me all day for a few days, and made a conscious effort to take pictures as I was traveling and when I reached unique destinations or saw unique things that would make for an interesting field of vision.

After trying to take pictures myself, and then looking again at Shore’s photos again, I had an appreciation for his eyes for a picture. Shore is very good at seeing points of view that will make for a good picture and is especially good at incorporating lots of color into his photos. While there are lots of cool things in Ann Arbor I found it difficult to incorporate color and contrast in the way that Shore seems to make so easy in all of his work. I don’t have as much experience as Shore with taking photos and there are things that he is a master with that I was kind of just guessing on and playing around with. In particular, things such as lighting, aperture, and shutter speed can make a big difference to how a photo comes out. Additionally, my photographs were taken with the intention of posting them online while Shore’s were taken with the intention of having them printed in and put in a photo-book, so it might have changed his approach to taking certain photos. 

I think my pictures of food and the ones taken with the very blue skies turned out well. The food pictures were fun because before every meal I ate I thought about how Shore would look at the food and tried to take pictures from a couple different angles. Shore uses objects around him to frame pictures and I feel I was able to do this well in a couple of photos, particularly with street lamps or the divisions between windows. It was harder for me to capture images of people. I don’t know the story behind most of the subjects in Shore’s photography but I found it difficult to take pictures of random people in the streets. I thought of what I would feel if someone was taking pictures of me without my knowledge and it felt a bit like I was invading their privacy. That’s why there are very few pictures with human subjects in my gallery. 

I do not believe my approach necessarily changed throughout the process, however, I did find certain things that worked better for me and tried to utilize these to my success. Whether it was taking pictures at a certain time of day when there was more natural light, or positioning the camera differently,  I found what worked best for me and used it. This, however, didn’t involve a change in ideology. 

The process was liberating for a few reasons. Firstly, it was a very fun experience. I’ve always had an interest in photography but never had a chance to explore it in this way before. It was cool to go out into the real world (even though we are in a college bubble in Ann Arbor) and just capture moments in everyday life. Since Shore is capturing the ordinary, trying to emulate his work really served as an eye-opener to the beauty in everyday life. We spend life chasing and going after the big moments, when there is so much to appreciate about the small day to day things such as appreciating how delicious a sandwich looks before it is eaten. 

 

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[su_tab title=”Conclusion”]

Conclusion

After going out into Ann Arbor and taking my own pictures I did come to understand Shore differently. In the interviews he gives he often talks about trying to capture what it means to see the world consciously. I began to understand this only after taking my own pictures. Using a camera to take pictures while really focusing on and thinking about the viewpoint gave me an appreciation for everything I see in a given day. We often don’t take the time to appreciate the amazing beauty we are given from the simple viewpoints of our eyes. Taking photographs like Shore illustrated this.

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I learned that it is very possible to change the way in which we see the world. This has both applications in a physical and metaphorical sense. In this case I am referring to seeing the world differently in a physical sense. If we, as humans, consciously focus on our visual perspective it will give us a different viewpoint on the subjects we are seeing. Seeing the world from a different physical perspective shows that people can change. Doing this project in the 21st century with digital photography is obviously very different to the equipment and technology Shore used in the 20th century. However, while the equipment used to take his photos back then and my photos now was different, the intentions behind them are the same. The content of these images isn’t necessarily important. More important is the viewpoint and composition of the photographs. This is because in order to become conscious of what one is seeing you need to change the view at which the subject is portrayed, not the subject. For this reason, Shores work is timeless and he truly is a Jewish American photo icon. 

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[su_tab title=”Sources”]

Sources

http://stephenshore.net/cv.pdf 

https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2018/01/19/an-interview-with-stephen-shore/ 

https://www.americansuburbx.com/2012/01/interview-stephen-shore-the-apparent-is-the-bridge-to-the-real-2007.html 

https://www.moma.org/audio/playlist/45/717

http://www.gupmagazine.com/articles/what-looking-looks-like-an-interview-with-stephen-shore 

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Aidan,

Please enable comments. You’ve done an excellent final project and I would like students to be able to comment.

DDM