Friday, August 20, 2004

Photographer of the mundane

At my local bookstore today, I noticed that one of my favourite photographers of the American vernacular landscape has had his book, Uncommon Places, reprinted. Stephen Shore was art's equivalent of Jack Kerouac in that he found fame after a series of photographic road trips across America. He elevated the ordinary snapshot to high art, turned public into private space, and transformed the mundane - an empty parking lot, a plate of food on a table, a motel bedroom, a deserted gas station - into the mystical.
The internet - in the form of photoblogs - has provided an outlet for thousands of "photographers of the mundane". The two photoblogs I visit the most often are those of Heather Champ (click on each picture for the next) and R. Gardiner. I wish Amazon would hurry up and send my digital camera!

Related links:
More Stephen Shore photos

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