Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34806 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 188 pages

Synopsis
Stephen Shore took colour photography beyond the domain of advertising and fashion, and his large-format American landscapes have become a vital photographic tradition over the past three decades. This book contains previously unpublished work that has never been exhibited.

Customer Reviews

'...and now the rest of the story...'

On page six of this large book, Stephen Shore writes, in the Artist's Note, 'The book you are holding in your hands amounts to what might be called the photographic equivalent of a director's cut.', and in the nature of such things you now get an additional ninety-four photos with the forty-nine that were in the original 1982 Aperture edition of the book, though this is not strictly true because some that were in the original are not in this edition.

I bought the original book because I loved the way Shore captured the everyday urban American outdoors and of course the amazing colour and detail. This new edition is even better because the photos are now larger, mostly 10.5 by 8.25 inches. The other thing I love about some of these photos is the way Shore captures the street corner, this seems to be a favorite composition (stretching back to the famous FSA photos of the Thirties) with contemporary photographers and Photorealists painters like Richard Estes or Davis Cone. Shore's 'El Paso Street, Texas, July 5, 1975' could just as easily be an Estes painting. There are several corner photos in the book and they are just stunning.

Another reviewer (on US Amazon) has commented on the amount of detail in these photos, helped of course by the two hundred plus dot screen, the original book used a 175 dpi. Apart from the screen it is interesting to compare images that appear in both books and the color does vary. 'Beverly Boulevard, June 21 1975' in the original (page 39) is predominately brown for the street area, in this edition (page 115) it has changed to a predominately blue cast. I wonder if this is the sort of thing that concerns collectors of first edition photo books?

In addition to the photos in this beautifully designed and printed book there are two text pieces, the first one, by Stephen Schmidt-Wulffen, includes twelve photos from Shore's 'American Surfaces'. The back of the book includes biographical notes and a useful bibliography.

This latest 'Uncommon Places' will be a book I'll look through for some years to come.