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Product Description
Product Description
The Nature of Photographs is the essential primer of photography, not only for students but for anyone with an interest in the medium. This book grew out of a college course that Stephen Shore taught for many years. Its aim is not to explore photographic content - the subject of an image - but to describe the physical and formal attributes of a photographic print, the very elements that form the tools a photographer uses to define and interpret that content. By teaching us how to look at photographs and helping us to see the world the way the photographer may have seen it, Shore also teaches us a way of looking at the world around us. The Nature of Photographs is a primary tool for critical analysis and the understanding of photography in general. As one of the photographers who established colour photography as a legitimate medium of artistic expression in the early 1970s and an influential and important teacher of both the theory and practice of photography, Stephen Shore is the ideal guide to the subject of 'how' to look at photographs. By putting himself in the shoes of the photographers, he imagines the concerns or approach to the subject or concept they may have had when they were taking the picture. As well as a selection of Shore's own work, The Nature of Photographs contains images from all eras of photography, from classic images by Walker Evans, Brassai and Eugene Atget to more contemporary work by Bernd and Hilla Becher, Cindy Sherman, Joel Sternfeld, Thomas Struth, Richard Prince and Andreas Gursky. It includes all genres, such as street photography, fine art photography and documentary photography, as well as images by unknown photographers, be they in the form of a snapshot from the early days of photography or an aerial photograph taken as part of a geographical survey. Shore has selected images by, among others, Eugene Atget, Walker Evans, Diane Arbus, William Eggleston and Robert Adams, and offers an explanation as to how they 'work'. Together with his clear, intelligent and accessible text, Shore uses these works to demonstrate how the world in front of the camera is transformed into a photograph.
About the Author
At the age of 17, Stephen Shore (b.1947) was a regular at Andy Warhol's Factory. By the age of 23 he became the first living photographer to have a one-man show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. An unrivalled pioneer in his field, his work has been exhibited in numerous museums worldwide and influenced generations of photographers. In 1982 he was appointed Director of the Photography Program at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, where he is the Susan Weber Soros Professor in the Arts.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I didn't expect so little text when buying this book, there is a small paragraph on roughly every 2 pages. I think rather than being a greatly informative book it is an amazing introduction to photographers you may not have seen work by as there are a lot of images in this book by a wide range of photographers.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I did not expect this to be some sort of "viewing manual" on photographs. Stephen Shore guides the reader through different types of photographs.
I enjoyed most of the photographs a lot and I also am taking advantage of the suggestions on how to look at pictures.
I enjoyed most of the photographs a lot and I also am taking advantage of the suggestions on how to look at pictures.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Refreshing is the simple but effective way in which Stephen Shore conveys the essential aspects of photographs by presenting a varied and coherent selection from throughout history (made by professional and anonymous photographers) accompanied by pointed explanatory notes.
Treating three levels of meaning - the physical, depictive and mental - Shore clarifies what can make a photograph interesting and valuable, whatever the circumstances of its making. His approach stays close to the photographer's perspective, much in continuation of John Szarkowski's seminal book The Photographer's Eye. The result is a topical publication, quite relevant in this age of profuse digital image making, without loosing itself in the idiosyncrasies of today.
Image and text are in good proportion, the layout is pleasant, the whole achieving a calmness and ease rare among present-day publications on photography.
Treating three levels of meaning - the physical, depictive and mental - Shore clarifies what can make a photograph interesting and valuable, whatever the circumstances of its making. His approach stays close to the photographer's perspective, much in continuation of John Szarkowski's seminal book The Photographer's Eye. The result is a topical publication, quite relevant in this age of profuse digital image making, without loosing itself in the idiosyncrasies of today.
Image and text are in good proportion, the layout is pleasant, the whole achieving a calmness and ease rare among present-day publications on photography.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The nature of photographs: THE primer.
Stephen Shore is perhaps one of the most important photographers since William Eggleston and this book is a very useful introduction to the reading of photographs instead of just... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mr. P. A. Martin
Disappointed
After all these reviews, I thought that this must be an excellent book. I personally found it less than engaging, somewhat pretentious and where I had thought that I would find a... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Peter Dzwig
Lessons from a Master
With his pioneering photography of Seventies and Eighties, New Yorker Stephen Shore helped change the course of the medium. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Marv
The Nature of Photographs
Very interesting with a variety of everyday look at life in an exploratory and questioning way, an excellent starter for rejuvenating ones own approach to taking photographs.
Published 14 months ago by hollowford
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