Stephen Shore is an influential American photographer known for pioneering the use of color in art photography and capturing the beauty of everyday life. His landmark series American Surfaces and Uncommon Places document ordinary American scenes during road trips in the 1970s. Starting photography at a young age, he gained early recognition and even documented Andy Warhol’s Factory as a teen. In 1971, he became the first living photographer since Alfred Stieglitz to have a solo show at the Met. Shore’s work is celebrated for its quiet observation and has deeply shaped contemporary photography.

Conext

This publication was created in response to an article featured in The Place’s Journal, which highlighted Stephen Shore’s photographic work in Topographies. Shore’s project showcases aerial surveys of the American landscape, emphasizing how infrastructure cuts through and disrupts the natural world.

All of the imagery in my publication is sourced directly from the article. Initially, I used the photographs as they were presented, but as I spent more time with them, I felt that vectorizing the images would give the project the interpretive depth it needed. This transformation adds a level of abstraction that aligns with Shore’s message—how the man-made interferes with and often diminishes the beauty of the natural environment.

The project was primarily executed in Adobe Illustrator. I manually vectored and modified each image to emphasize structure, disruption, and contrast. Adobe InDesign was used to craft the typography and layout, creating a cohesive visual narrative throughout the publication.

This piece is both a reflection and reinterpretation—paying tribute to Shore’s work while offering a new lens through which to explore the dialogue between land and infrastructure.