STEPHEN SHORE
I am very, very slowly but surely making my way through Jack Kerouac's infamous and iconic novel On The Road. Just to give you an idea about how long it's taking me, I began it at the end of June and still haven't finished yet. In June I got to chapter three and then for some reason decided I'd put it down and save it for another day, which I proceeded to do so in September, just before I moved to uni. Now again, as you can imagine, I didn't get very far because starting uni is a pretty full on experience, however I did eventually make it to good ol' chapter three, but then whatdyaknow, I put it down again. And now it's January, and my because my flatmate just ordered the same book and has avidly read through most of it in the space of a week, I've picked it up again and am proud to say I've finally made it to chapter four. Things are looking up guys. Now the relevance of this book to this post, all about the American photographer Stephen Shore, is that the cover of my version of On The Road is beautifully adorned with Stephen's photographs. And if I'm being completely honest, Stephen's photography is 100% the reason why I even picked up the book (I only seem to notice books that have pretty covers), and 50% the reason why I ended up buying it (the other 50% was the rather enticing blurb). Stephen has such a unique and keen artistic eye, and I adore how he finds the aesthetic beauty in everyday scenes that we're normally so oblivious to, as we rush about our daily lives, and presents it to you in such a compelling and delightful format.
In case you didn't know, On The Road is a semi-autobiographical novel partly based on Jack Kerouac's own experiences. It's set between 1947-1950 and follows the young Sal Paradise as he zigzags across America with the notorious Dean Moriarty and friends. And linking it back to Stephen Shore, the amazing/ peculiar thing is that Stephen's incredible photography almost perfectly captures exactly what On The Road is all about. My favourite photographs of Stephen's, and the ones used on my book, are those taken during his own travels across America in the 70's, just like Jack Kerouac did thirty years before him. They capture quirky, joyful, everyday American scenes, full of character and nostalgia, in vibrant, lucid colour, and flicking through them one after another makes you long to hop on the nearest plane to America, find a car and just travel across the states for all eternity. Follow that with a couple of chapters of Jack Kerouac's On The Road, and you just might find yourself being restrained by airport security for trying to impulsively fly on that USA-bound plane and do that life changing road trip for yourself. It's a photography-literature match made in heaven, with both Stephen and Jack's work making you want to seize life, adventure and your dreams with both hands, and just get out there live. So now with that, I would love to share some of my favourite Stephen Shore photography with you, and urge you to read On The Road (and make it past chapter 4,), in the hopes that both inspire you to go out into the world, explore it, and live your life freely, beautifully and wildly.
(all photos taken from the link above & belong to Stephen Shore)
Dayyuuummm right.
No comments:
Post a Comment