Stephen Shore

What’s more incredible, the fact that the photo above was taken in 1973 and is only being exhibited now, or the fact that Arizona’s Wigwam motel still looks exactly the same to this day? Probably both, but it’s surprising that any of photographer Stephen Shore’s work would be kept a secret for so long. Shore famously got his start when he sold several photographs to the MoMA when he was just 14-years-old. He was unschooled in the medium then and has remained a self-taught photographer ever since. It wasn’t until ten years later that Shore made a real name for himself with American Surfaces, the 1972 series of photographs he took on his first major American road trip. People immediately responded to his deadpan composition and striking use of color. But it’s Uncommon Places, the photographs from his next road trip just one year later that has Shore fans buzzing now.