I want to add one thing that relates to the question of people asking, “Why did he take that picture?” It has to do with impact. I’ve told the story before of going to a symposium at the International Center of Photography with Jay Maisel and Jay telling me that the problem with my pictures is that they don’t have impact. He then proceeded to show slides to the group gathered there. He put on a tray of slides and had them changed at five-second intervals. Each time a new photograph appeared, the audience went “Ah!” And before they could finish their “AH!” or their “Ooh!” the next picture was there. Evidently, he was interested in the first five seconds of a person’s reaction to a photograph. My hunch is that people who ask, “Why did Stephen Shore take that picture?” are people used to seeing photographs that are high in initial impact. And my view is very different. The first five seconds aren’t as important to me.

stephen shore