In a culture of sensational media competing for our attention, an obvious path to dramatic images is to point your camera at dramatic stuff. But this photographer wants to show us the compelling beauty of the banal and the everyday that is, for most of us in this busy world, hidden in plain sight.
In this latest video from Tatiana Hopper, she introduces the unique and iconic work of American photographer Stephen Shore, who also happens to be one of my personal favorites. His book “Uncommon Places,” which is featured in the video, has a special place on my bookshelf, and it’s a volume that I dip into frequently for inspiration in my own photographic work.
Developing his career in an art milieu in which any serious photographer worth the name was shooting in black and white, Shore was one of those photographers, like Fred Herzog, Saul Leiter, and William Eggleston, who bucked this trend, ignoring the criticism of fellow artists who dismissed color photography as an amateur pursuit, to explore the expressive possibilities that an extended visual palette could afford the photographer.
As in all of her videos, Tatiana, who trained as a filmmaker and is an excellent photographer herself, brings her own artist’s perspective to her review of Shore’s work and his creative process. Beautifully illustrated using Shore’s arresting images, Tatiana demonstrates how he is able to show us the deep and compelling beauty that exists in even the most banal aspects of everyday life—a beauty that is, for the most part, hidden in plain sight to anybody without the particular, mindful, and idiosyncratic perspective needed to recognize it.
Fortunately for us, this is a perspective that we can learn and develop in ourselves, and the work of photographers like Shore can be a starting point and a guide in this process. Beyond the basic technical proficiency required if you want to go anywhere with your photography, I think that what might be called “learning to see” is actually the essential part of the art, without which your images will seldom be truly compelling. As much as they might rise to the level of technical competence, without this “photographer’s eye” they will always lack that special magic that distinguishes a good image from a great one. In this respect, then, I feel there is much that Stephen Shore can teach us.
If you’re a fan of photography, there’s plenty here to inspire you. I thoroughly enjoy Tatiana Hopper’s YouTube channel. As I’ve said before, it is one of my favorites, and I definitely recommend subscribing to it and following it if you’re a photographer yourself or somebody who is interested in, and follows, the visual arts.
3 Comments
My question takes the headline and theme of this video another step. How can we create unordinary images of ordinary subjects? What is that magical ingredient? We no longer have the benefit of exploring color photography as a new art form. The world is awash in photos of everyday events and life in front of us. Maybe we can photograph ordinary street scenes of 2025 and they'll have nostalgic value in 2075, but I won't be around to appreciate them. It was said in the video that Shore's images presented a documentary look at society of that time; reality that only color could capture. She described the images as snapshot aesthetic. But is that our objective today? Boring photos probably won't have much impact on anyone today. Deliberate intentions or not, the result is more or less the same.
Indeed we can take Tatiana's advice: slow down the pace and look for details. Photograph with curiosity... as was suggested. But what else distinguishes one snapshot of ordinary daily life from another? I'm not sure of the answer to that question but I think there's more than looking for details. That seems like a logical starting point. Everyday moments offer photographic opportunities, but how can we elevate them to something special?
The first thing I would consider is looking for unusual or distinctive viewpoints. A different perspective, perhaps. While I look for ordinary and mundane subjects nearly every day, my mind is always asking how to make an unordinary photograph of what I've found. Sometimes different and unique isn't necessarily better, but it's another step beyond just looking for details. And maybe the critics were right in 1970... that color photography is for amateurs and black and white is the true serious form of photographic art.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments Ed. Although one could argue that photographing the everyday has "already been done", I disagree that the well of compelling images from that genre has been in any way depleted. I do feel that it is inexhaustible and that there is always treasure to be found for the mindful photographer. With regards to color - I'm a huge fan of black and white and for a while I was working almost exclusively in it, but I did start to find it (speaking only for myself here) as a kind of creative crutch that I was leaning on at the expense of a broader creativity. I have made a concerted effort to shoot more color in that last year or two and I have been amazed at how much it has expanded my creativity. Even as a diehard fan of monochrome, I feel that color photography is still underrated as an artistic medium.
Interesting... I have found myself working in the opposite direction as yours. My creativity seems to flourish in monochrome, and I struggle to make any sort of meaningful work that is emotionally satisfying to me in color. Odd though that I never liked black and white even so much as a little bit until about ten years ago. And it was like a light switch flipped in my head.