identity, children and family, poverty, forgotten people
whole world
I have been a photographer for more than five decades. I traversed five continents, witnessing tragedy and triumph. During my career I authored 11 monogram photo books, 7 self-published books, and 14 zines.
Much of my photography is about children and families in distress with a focus on identity and family: what tears us apart and binds us together—violence and abuse, but also sensuality, love, hope, and transcendence.
I try to convey pure emotion in my pictures, to get behind the scenes, to find a different angle so my pictures reveal what is beneath the surface. Having a distinct vision allows a photographer to be more poetic. While my work fits into the documentary tradition, it is also about the edges of experience, where things are more ambiguous and non rational: the inner moments, where public events meet our private fears and hopes.
Exhibits on SocialDocumentary.net | Country | No. of Visits | Year(s) |
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![]() Stephen Shames: a lifetime in photographyStephen Shames: A lifetime in Photography contains 40 photographs from my upcoming retrospective boo... View More |
whole world | 583 | 1968 - 2024 |
![]() Outside the Dream: Child Poverty in AmericaThe 1980s saw the largest increase in child poverty since the 1960s. Outside the Dream put faces on ... View More |
United States | 2340 | 1972 - 1992 |