Thesis & Background: American Surfaces

Born in 1947, Stephen Shore was the only child of successful, Jewish, business owning parents on the east side of New York. He lived a privileged life in a community with others who had similar economic status. Shore and his family lived a privilaged lifestyle where he was fortunate enough to take regular trips to Europe. From an early age, Shore knew he wanted to become a photographer and he had the support of his family and neighbors who gave him the supplies and exposure he needed [1].

While in highschool, Shore was interested in film and created a short film, Entitled, which was shown at Jonas Mekas’ Film-Makers’ Cinematheque. There he met and became friends with Andy Worhol who became an influential mentor figure for Shore by teaching him to value “the everyday imagery of North American Life” [1]. Instead of attending college, Stephen Shore went to the Factory which he later came to view as an equivalent form of artistic education.

Stephen Shore did his most famous work during a cross-country road trip from 1972 to 1973. He published his photographs in a photobook called American Surfaces. Upon its publication, American Surfaces received harsh criticism and a scathing review in The Village Voice [2]. The photobook consists mainly of common objects and views which tells the story of his trip across the United States and how different people live within the same country.

Throughout my process, I will attempt to capture the lifestyles of different people within my community and neighboring areas by photographing subjects some may describe as mundane or boring as I am unable to travel as Stephen Shore did for American Surfaces within the time allotted in the semester.

Methodology

During his two year road trip across the continental United States, Stephen Shore used color film with his 35 mm camera to document his experience. He was interested in snapshots and their immediacy which he describes as similar to a raw experience without any pretense of art. Pictures in Stephen Shore’s photobook, American Surfaces, are of food, people, refrigerators, streets, restrooms, and much more.

During the interview embedded below, Stephen Shore states he believes the point of a photograph is to capture the self awareness as a photographer. He emphasizes a key method to his photography is to pay attention to what he does at all times of the day and have awareness in average moments.

I plan to emulate his philosophy by capturing pictures while I eat my food, go to the store, and experience other day to day activities to actively reflect during average moments even as I just sit and watch television doing nothing. Other subjects I may try to capture might include refrigerators, restrooms, my pets, family, and friends. Because I do not have the time or resources to travel as Stephen Shore did, I will try to replicate his process by going to neighboring communities in addition to what I photograph during my common activities. To capture the rawness of a moment, I will not stage or edit my photographs. Hopefully throughout my process I will be able to capture the different lifestyles of people within my community, neighboring communities, and me by photographing subjects some may view as mundane.

Photo Analysis

By taking my own photographs I came to better understand the patience Stephen Shore had and the difficulty he must had to select the pictures for his photobook: American Surfaces. Shore believed that photographs are like problems that should only be solved once and took as minimal pictures of the subjects as he could. Hence, I came to appreciate the patience he had to analyze the setting before taking the perfect picture [3].

I found it very difficult to only take one picture of a subject as Shore does for his photographs. In the beginning, I took more pictures than I wanted because there were small details such as shadows, reflections, or secondary objects that I did not notice at first and inadvertently captured. As a result, I began looking at the scenes nearly exclusively through the lens of my camera to analyze the scene. In doing so, I began looking at the background of Shore’s photographs as well as secondary objects. For example, the picture of the toilet below caught my eye for a different reason as it did originally. At first I was intrigued by the uniqueness of the toilet in the fact that it looked more like a chair. However, after taking my own pictures, I was drawn to the unique placement of the toilet paper wedged next to the wall instead of on a holder or a more convenient location.

In many of Shore’s photographs, he was able to capture more dirt and grime which I thought I would be able to replicate. However, I was surprised by how clean many of the streets and facilities I went to while looking for filth. I still was able to draw inspiration from many of Shore’s photographs as depicted in the galleries below.

One of my favorite pictures that I took was when I almost finished brunch on the left. To the right, was the inspiration I got from Shore. Many people take photographs of their food before they begin eating as it looks pristine. However, I found it fasinating the story that can be inferred by food that was almost complete. Was it tasty or was it discusting? Did the presentation change the taste and perception of the meal? Possibly the most intriguing question I intended the viewer to inquire was what was the meal.

My favorite part of this project was learning how to see through the eyes of a photographer. When I was younger I did photography as a hobby at Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and other events, but I focused on other hobbies the later part of high school and college. Getting to apply what I have learned was very exciting and I am happy with the results that I got along with a new appreciation of Stephen Shore’s work. Below are the rest of the photographs I took inspired by Stephen Shore’s American Surfaces.

Conclusion

After going through the process, I found it very difficult to photograph certain subjects in neighboring communities because the difference in everyday objects and experiences highlighted the stark economical differences between my community and those that surround me. The details I did not notice previously made me feel guilty for not noticing them before and exploiting them for personal motives by photographing them for this class enhanced that guilt. Instead, I decided to focus more on capturing scenes of my own life through my perspective, similar to how Shore captured scenes from his trip, by being more self-aware.

However, I often found it very difficult to stay focused and aware of my surroundings as Stephen Shore does, but that may be a product of my ADHD. Because of the enhanced awareness of the tasks I was doing and my surroundings, I found more beauty in the minutiae of life. Eventhough I did not capture the grime of my surroundings as Shore did in many of his pictures, I believe I captured the essence of his philosophy on photography through the similar process I took and was able to tell my unique story.

Being born in 1999, living life as I can rember in the 21st century, my idea of the 20th century mainly came as an idealization from books. However, by replicating Shore’s process to the best of my abilities, I have been able to view the 20th century in a more completeness because Shore photographed the parts of daily life that others did not find worthy enough to document.

Sources

[1] “Stephen Shore Photography, Bio, Ideas.” The Art Story, https://www.theartstory.org/artist/shore-stephen/. 

[2] “Photographers in Focus: Stephen Shore.” YouTube, Nowness, 13 May 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1RJ9tVYS_U. Accessed 09 Dec. 2022.

[3] “Stephen Shore: Moma.” The Museum of Modern Art, https://www.moma.org/artists/5409.