The photography of Richard Misrach.

The photographs of Richard Misrach are among some of my favorite. Misrach has a way of connecting to me through his depiction of spatial quality and subtlety in color.

His photographs in the Desert Cantos series are particularly special to me. They remind me of long roadtrips through Arizona and Nevada in the heat of the summer. Delicate shifts in faded color differentiate sky from land. The loneliness of his photographs is portrayed through absence of humans but the effect of humanity is clearly portrayed through objects left behind. The scale of his landscapes are shown through these objects as well.

You can see more of his work here and here.

The photography of Stephen Shore.

Along with William Eggleston and Richard Misrach, Stephen Shore is one of my favorite photographers. His roadtrips across the United States during the early 1970's captured the vastness of the country as well as the simpleness of living in that time.

His view of the American vernacular, with depictions of gas stations, diners and roadside motels, was foretold by the photorealistic paintings of Richard Estes and Ralph Goings. Shores' absence of humans in his landscapes give the viewer a sense of loneliness, as if these places were void of human life.

His work has been an influence in my work for both use of roadside Americana imagery from the 1960's and 1970's and also for his sun bleached color palette.

You can see more of his work here and here.