William Eggleston and Stephen Shore

 "fearless naturalism—a belief that by looking patiently at what others ignore or look away from, interesting things can be seen." This is a phrase writer Robert Woodward used to describe a short film by Eggleston called "Stranded in Canton."
Looking at Egglestons photographs is much the same. I'm not sure what others read into such imagery but after years of education and looking at work I have finally learned to dig a little deeper when looking at this sort of imagery. Usually there are elements that work off each other in some pretty clever ways. Sometimes it is more about the color, Eggleston showed the first color exhibit in the history of the MOMA. This was at a time when black and white was still king, and I think his work was perfect for getting that barrier down.

Going beyond his eye for color he also is in the tradition of photographers that find a way to comment on some aspect of our society with images that may seem rather mundane to many.

A sidewalk, tricycle, lawn, house and two cars. It makes me think what these things mean to a child as opposed to what it means for an adult. Very much like the way children view a holiday such as Christmas and the way adults see it. Magical for most kids and stressful for most of the rest of us!


Stephen Shore has been described as " an interpreter of the American vernacular." He shows charcteristics that relate to the period in an often banal way. He is another artist that often requires the viewer to dig, yet the work is ambiguous enough to allow them to read into it what they wish. Much like Eggleston.

He was also another early pioneer of color photography as art. Pioneer may be a stretch, but certainly the time was right. I see this and think Freidlander shoots color. The subject matter is still relevant and fairly familiar, so what does the color add that pushes it? After seeing and shooting so much black and white I think it was exciting for these guys to have a new means of expression. The psychological impact of color has been employed by artists for literally tens of thousands of years.  Stephen Shore as well as Eggleston borrowed from photorealist painters and I am sure the were consciously aware of the way color affected the imagery.