To see something spectacular and recognise it as a photographic possibility is not making a very big leap. But to see something ordinary, something youโd see every day, and recognize it as a photographic possibility - that is what I am interested in.
Stephen ShoreThe context in which a photograph is seen affects the meaning the viewer draws from it.
Stephen ShoreA quote that I like very much comes close to explaining my attitude about taking photographs. โChinese poetry rarely trespasses beyond the bounds of actuality the great Chinese poets accept the world exactly as they find it in all its terms and with profound simplicity they seldom talk about one thing in terms of another; but are able enough and sure enough as artists to make the ultimately exact terms become the beautiful terms.โ
Stephen ShoreA work can do many things at once, and it doesn't have to be just about the world, it could also be about photography, it could be about perception, it could be an exploration of the medium. It could be a document, it could be a visual poetry, and it could be a formal exploration all at the same time.
Stephen ShorePhotography is inherently an analytic discipline. Where a painter starts with a blank canvas and builds a picture, a photographer starts with the messiness of the world and selects a picture. A photographer standing before houses and streets and people and trees and artifacts of a culture imposes an order on the scene - simplifies the jumble by giving it structure. He or she imposes this order by choosing a vantage point, choosing a frame, choosing a moment of exposure, and by selecting a plane of focus.
Stephen Shore