Stephen Shore : The Nature of Photographs

Stephen Shore : The Nature of Photographs

An introduction to Stephen Shore would do no justice to the vast gamut of work produced by him in the 20th century. An almost stoic reaction that his photographs induce is deceptive in nature as his works, often of the banal consumerist landscapes across America, exhibit a surrealism that tactfully illustrates the formal aspects of photography. The new edition of his book The Nature of Photographs, Phaidon, 2010, written from the classes that he gave as Director of Photography at Bard College in the state of New-York, is a demonstrative masterpiece where he focuses on the technical tools used and required by photographers. He defines what is photography through the three states, the physical state, the representative state which is divided in four fields: the flatness, the frame, the moment, and the focus, and third the mental state. Each idea is illustrated through a picture/image produced by a contemporary photographer. A major contribution, this book is clear and sharp to understand what is photography and to learn about the history of contemporary photography. A must to get !