How a fascination with the banal transformed color photography into high art
In short: In the 1970s, most fine art photography was strictly black and white. Then came Stephen Shore. By finding a detached pleasure in the everyday—from roadside towns to simple meals—he pioneered a new way of seeing the world through the lens of vibrant, large-format color.
Stephen Shore’s journey into the heart of the everyday began with a childhood interest in the medium. After receiving a Kodak Junior darkroom set for his sixth birthday, he was using a 35mm camera by age nine. His early influences were profound: at ten, he studied Walker Evans’s 'American Photographs', and at fourteen, he famously contacted MoMA curator Edward Steichen, who purchased three of his black and white New York City images.
By the mid-1960s, Shore was documenting the epicenter of pop culture, photographing Andy Warhol and the inhabitants of 'The Factory' for roughly three years. This period instilled in him a conceptual approach to the mundane. However, his most significant stylistic shift occurred during cross-country road trips in the 1970s. A 1972 journey from Manhattan to Amarillo, Texas, sparked a deep interest in color. He moved from handheld 35mm cameras to 4x5" view cameras, eventually settling on the 8x10 format, a transition likely prompted by a conversation with John Szarkowski.
Shore’s work, particularly his 'Uncommon Places' (1982) and 'American Surfaces' (1999) series, helped establish color photography as a legitimate art form alongside peers like William Eggleston. His ability to find beauty in 'man-altered landscapes' was cemented by his participation in the influential 'New Topographics' exhibition (1975–1976). Today, his legacy is preserved in massive collections, including over 800 photographs gifted to the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2026.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Stephen Shore
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