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The Nature of Photographs t The Nature of Photographs By Stephen Shore A Primer :i ', ",]]],l:,:.':,J!",,, PHAIDoN ry!Uuuu,,.,,,,,, , Tn The Nature of Photographs, Stephen Shore explores ways of understanding and ]ooking at all types of photographs - from iconic images to found pictures, negatives to digital fí]es. Based on Shorers many years of teaching photography at Bard College, New York State, this book serves as an indispensable tool for students, teachers and everyone who wants to take better pictures or learn to ]_ook at them in a more informed wav. As we]l as a selection of shorers own work, The }trature of Photographs contains images from throughout the history of photograph;r, from works by the fathers of photography such as Alfred Stieglitz and walker Evans to that of artists working with the medium today such as Co]lier Schorr and Thomas Struth. rt covers a range of genres, such as street photography, fine art photography and documentary photography, as well as images by unknown photographers, be they in the form of an old snapshot or an aerial photograph taken as part of a geographical survey. 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. Jacket iL}ustration: Kenneth Josephson New york state !,97 0 The Nature of Photographs phaidon press Limited Regent's Wharf A11 Sain]:s Slreet London Nt 9PA Phaidon Press Tnc. 1B0 Varick Streel New York, NY t0014 www.phaidon.com Second edition (revised, expanded and redesigned) @ 2a07 Phaidon Press Limited Reprinled 20O7 First edilion published by The Johns Hopkins University Press ISBN 97B 0 71,4B 1585 2 A CIP catalogue record for this book is a"vaiLable from ihe Bri]:ish Library. A11 rights reserved. No part of this pubLica,lion rnay be reproduced, stored in a retrievaL system or lransmitled, ín any fcrm or by any means, electronic, mechanica1, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of phaidon press Limited. Design and Typeface by A2/SW/HK printed in china The Nature of Photographs By Stephen Shore Contents 7 The Nature of Photographs !.5 The Physical Level 37 The Depictive Level 97 The Mental Level !.17 MenLal Modell ing |.34 Picture Credi]:s !,35 Index of Arlists L36 AcknowLedgements Robert Frank View from Hotel Window - Bulte, Montana L954-56 ó The Nature of Photographs The Nature of Photographs How is this photograph different from the actua] scene that Robert Frank saw"as he stood in his Butte hotel room and looked out on this depressed mining town in the northern Rockies? How much of this image is a product of 1enses, shutters, and media?'M/hat are the characteristics of photography that establish how an image looks? The Nature of Phoiographs 7 This book explores v/ays of understanding John Gossage the nature of photographs; that is, how Romance Industry # 175 photographs function; and not only the !,99B most elegant or gracefu1 photographs, but all photographs made with a camera and printed directly from the negative or a digital file. A1} photographic prints have qualities in common. These qualities determine how the world in front of the camera is transformed into a photograph; they also form the visua] grammar that elucidates the photograph's meaning. B The Nature of Photographs The Nature of Photographs 9 n[lilll |||l| |||||| ,.,r, "f," A photograph can be viewed on several Dieter AppeLt ]evels. To begin with, it is a physical The Mark on the Mirror object, a print. 0n this print is an Thal Breathin8 Makes image, an illusion of a window on to the !,97 7 world. Tt is on this level that we usually read a picture and discover its content: a souvenir of an exotic land, the face of a lover, a wet rock, a landscape at night. Embedded in this level is another that contains signals to our mind's perceptual apparatus. Tt gives (spin'to what the image depicts and how it is organized. tO The Nature of Photographs :, The Nature of Photograpns l rt The aim of this book then is not to explore Walker Evans photographic content, but to describe physical and Fami]y Snapshots ín formal attributes of a. photographic print that form the tools a Hale Coun:iJa photographer uses to define and interpret A]abama that content. L936 12 l The Nature of Photographs The Na]:ure of Photographs 13 Anonymous Ca"r by roadside Date unknown t4 The Physica} Level The Physica1 Leve] A photographic print is, in most instances, a base of paper, plastic, or metal that has been coated with an emu]sion of light-sensitive metallic salts or meta]lic salts coupled with vegetable or metal]ic dyes. Tn some prints, the base is coated directly with or imprinted with dyes, pigments, or carbon. A photograph is flat, it has edges, and it is static; it doesnrt move. 'V/hile it is flat, it is not a true plane. The print has a physical dimension. The Physica,1 Level | 15 Th ese nh vsical and chemical attributes Stephen Shore form the boundaries that circumscribe Luzzara, Italy, !-993 the nature of the photograph. These atrribules impress lh emselves upon the photographic image. The physical qualities of the print determine some of the visual qualities of the image. The flatness of the photographic paper establishes the plane of the picture. The edges of the print demand the boundedness of the pícture. The staticness of the image determines the experience of time in the photograph. Even the image of a photograph on a computer monitor is flat, static, and bounded. The type of black and-white emulsion determines the hue and tonal range of the print. The type of base determines the texture of the print. L6 ] The Physical Level illllilfl l \a The PhysicaL Leve1 | t7 Co]our expands a photographrs palette Anne Turyn and adds a ne\M level of descriptive !,2ct7cL96a information and transparenc.y to the From image. Tt is more transparent because (FLashbu]b \4emories' one is stopped less by the surface - colour L9B6 is more ]ike how we see. It has added description because it shows the colour of light and the colours of a culture or an age. While made in the 19BOs, the palette of this image by Anne Turyn seems to date the picture a generation earlier. 1B The Physica1 LeveL >}- The Physical Level l9 Slephen Shore Room 2B, Holiday Tnn Medicine Hat. Alberta August 18, 1974 ry ft § ]s ;5 ii f; l;i */ 2OITl e Physica. Leve] Joe] Slernfe]d Mclean, Virginia, December {97B ".i.r:' The Physical Level | 21 Stephen Shore Amarillo. Texas 22 The Physical LeveL Thomas Demand Sink/Spůle !,997 The PhysicaL Level 23 The tonal range of a black and-white Richard Benson print is affected by the type of emulsion Untitled the print is made with. The composition Date unknown of the film emulsion, the chernistry of the film and print developers, and the nature of the right source from which the print was rnade also determine the way shadows, mid tones, and highrights are described by the print; they determine how many shades of grey the print contains and whether these tones are compressed or separated. This reproduction of a prinl by Richard Benson has an exceptionally long tonal scale with subtle, clear, beautiful separation of the Low vaLues. The original print is acryLic paint applied to aluminium. It was produced from eight halftone separations made from the origina1 negative. 2 Th^ Ph"ls, ,a - ,ó Je The Physica1 Levet | 25 As an object, a photograph has its Anonymous v/ltn apples own life in the world. It can be saved old man in a shoebox or in a museum. It can 'rr" "*""-" be reproduced as information or as an advertisement. It can be bought and sold.. It may be regarded as a utilitarian object or as a work of art. The context in which a photograph is seen effects the meaníngs a viewer draws írom it, 26 ] The Physical LeveL The Physical Level|27 Cindy Sherman Untit]ed Film Stil] L97 B .,l;',Ý ,us.\{Řry; §. l§§' $ §t k* *: tt § §*§.ů F F * -*{É- so*#**_*x## -*" Ť*'t" ,#.jwŤ za I tne Physical Leve1 Anonymous PubLicity shot of actress Joan Foniaine 4 otrZ J'l,.io. CUŤE FETÁOíý: Joan Fontaine cud,dles lrer Dice" during a lvr,] ia sl]ooting rrrěircaďHáiriess 1up, lar,nourt. oí ],at Holt's "}light To 'angivr" at IIFLIGHT (PLEÁ§E cRr,DIT TO ŤA]§GIERI| ) The Physical Level | 29 T. H. 0'SuLlivan U.S. GeologicaL Survey Historic Spanish Record Longitudina], parabo]ic, oť the Conquest, South and transverse dunes Side oí Inscription Rock, on Garces Mesa Coconino New Mexico County, Arizona, Lat LB73 35'39'N; long 1tO"55'W Photograph scaLe: 1:54,0OO, Feb. 19th !-954 ' ]'];!.,: ' .. -',-r ř: ,]\i.-\ -:..,,1 . ,(; r:l ..,ť . l .',,.. 3a l The Physica1 leve1 VV HU M 12 AMs 19 FEB 5.tr The Physica} Leve1 | ót ťilffitiltill1ll,Fim* col]ier schorr Bernd and HiLla Becher Herbert, New SoLdier Waterlowers, Goethestrasse L972 L9B6 zaaL ó2 l The Physica,l Leve1 I The Physica1 Level óó By consciously adopting a visual style, Wa]ker Evans a photographer can reference this B-d, o- an| fa rn ho .so context and bring these meanings to Ha]e County, A]abama -Walker the reading of the image, as Evans did when he made this photograph in, what he called, (documentary style'. 34 l The Physical Level The Physica1 Leve] 35 Andrew Moore Burger King, Governor's Island, New Tork 200 3 Lisa kereszi Burger King, Governor's Island, New York 2aa3 36 l The Depictive Level The Depictive LeveI Photography is inherent]y an analytic -Where discipline.
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