Stephen Shore
“I do what feels natural, but I can’t say I haven’t thought about it”. Stephen Shore is an American photographer who is known for his images of places and objects around the USA. He is famous for his use of colour photography in the 70s and the way he sees things and "makes sense of the space around them", this is clear in the style his photographs are taken. At a glance, his photos seem like snapshots, but as you look in more detail you notice that Shore has clearly thought about all the elements that make good photographs. His photos make seemingly normal things like buildings, streets, restaurants etc. stand out and become much more than what they seem through his use of composition, light, space, lines and colours. Shores work is a great example for 'What makes a good photograph' because his photographs aren't particularly out of the ordinary but they are still aesthetically pleasing due to his uses of elements within the photograph. You can tell that he has thought about it thoroughly before taking the photo (which he had to due to the film cameras he used) instead of just taking a snapshot.
My Work
Below are photos I took around school. For each of these photos I took light, lines, positive and negative space, shadows and colour into consideration just as Stephen Shore would.
Homework
My homework was to take 10 photos and think about them, considering all the things Shore would. I went to the Central London and took photos around Mayfair and Soho. I chose these locations because the buildings and streets all have elements within them that I can capture like Shore, for example the light of the sex shop sign in Soho against the dark background of the alleyway, these all helped me think about how I can make these seemingly ordinary things interesting.
My homework was to take 10 photos and think about them, considering all the things Shore would. I went to the Central London and took photos around Mayfair and Soho. I chose these locations because the buildings and streets all have elements within them that I can capture like Shore, for example the light of the sex shop sign in Soho against the dark background of the alleyway, these all helped me think about how I can make these seemingly ordinary things interesting.
2nd Homework
I went to Catford to take more photographs considering all the elements that make a good photograph. I took photographs of buildings and signs, again considering Shores idea that ordinary things can be interesting. Walking around Catford I took the time to stop and consider what around me had the potential to be a great photograph, just as a photographer like Shore would. I then stopped to align everything in the photograph to make it visually pleasing. I thought about things within the photograph that makes "Something ordinary, something you’d see every day, and recognise it as a photographic possibility” as Shore does. For example in the 2nd image, the pink colours
I went to Catford to take more photographs considering all the elements that make a good photograph. I took photographs of buildings and signs, again considering Shores idea that ordinary things can be interesting. Walking around Catford I took the time to stop and consider what around me had the potential to be a great photograph, just as a photographer like Shore would. I then stopped to align everything in the photograph to make it visually pleasing. I thought about things within the photograph that makes "Something ordinary, something you’d see every day, and recognise it as a photographic possibility” as Shore does. For example in the 2nd image, the pink colours
This photograph is my favourite as I like how it is quite plain on the outer side of it but in the centre it shows the bustly life in the square, with the trash bag, the shadow, the road all coming together in an isolated window (of sorts).
Tom Hunter
Artist Tom Hunter came to our school to give us a talk about his life and career and how they both influenced each other.
He showed us a number of different projects he has worked on and gave us background information on all of them.
I personally found his work on The Ghetto Series very interesting. I found it interesting because it was more than just taking photographs, it had an important personal meaning as Hunter lived in this community and these photographs were taken for a campaign to save this community from developers. Throughout the lecture, he kept referring back to Hackney, where lots of his work has taken place. This made it clear to me how important this place and community is to him, and why he had chosen it to be the subject of his work in many different forms. The personal motivation behind The Ghetto Series is one that has a story behind it, which is shown in the photographs from the series. Every picture tells the story of the people within the photograph, the decor on the walls, the objects lying around, everything shown gives an insight to this persons life and this community that is so important to Hunter. The idea behind it is simple, but the story behind every photo is much more complex. I thought about how this is what makes a good photograph, and why Tom Hunter has used his community as the subjects of his work time and time again. It shows that if there is a personal motivation behind it, it creates a different kind of importance to the artist.
He showed us a number of different projects he has worked on and gave us background information on all of them.
I personally found his work on The Ghetto Series very interesting. I found it interesting because it was more than just taking photographs, it had an important personal meaning as Hunter lived in this community and these photographs were taken for a campaign to save this community from developers. Throughout the lecture, he kept referring back to Hackney, where lots of his work has taken place. This made it clear to me how important this place and community is to him, and why he had chosen it to be the subject of his work in many different forms. The personal motivation behind The Ghetto Series is one that has a story behind it, which is shown in the photographs from the series. Every picture tells the story of the people within the photograph, the decor on the walls, the objects lying around, everything shown gives an insight to this persons life and this community that is so important to Hunter. The idea behind it is simple, but the story behind every photo is much more complex. I thought about how this is what makes a good photograph, and why Tom Hunter has used his community as the subjects of his work time and time again. It shows that if there is a personal motivation behind it, it creates a different kind of importance to the artist.