4 min readJoel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Wet n’ Wild Aquatic Theme Park, Orlando, Florida, September 1980
The influence of Joel Sternfeld
In 1980, President Reagan was elected president and Joel Sternfeld had embarked on a road trip across America that would allow him to capture life in America as it was in the 1980s.
Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, A Blind Man in His Garden, Homer, Alaska July 1984Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Abandoned Freighter, Homer, Alaska, July 1984Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, After A Flash Flood, Rancho Mirage, California 1979
Having been awarded the Guggenheim grant two years earlier in 1978, Joel’s American Prospects was later to become one of the most revolutionary color photographs of the time, when professional photographers only used the black and white format for official or serious pictures.
Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Agoura, California, February 1988Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Approximately 17 of 41 Sperm Whales that Beached and Subsequently Died Florence, Oregon, June 1979Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Architecture Museum, Provincetown, Massachusetts, July 1980
His photographs from the American Prospects series helped usher in a new breed of modern photographers, which is why Sternfeld has always been characterized as one of the most influential photographers of his generation.
Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Barnyard, Kenai, Alaska 1984Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Bear Lake, Utah July 1979Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Bikini Contest, Fort Lauderdale, FL, March 1983
What inspired him
Sternfeld was inspired by Robert Frank1, who at the time was well known for influencing countless numbers of aspiring artists and photographers across a series of genres. With the Guggenheim Grant money, Sternfeld then traveled to various parts of America, managing to capture normal Americans living their day-to-day life from his Volkswagen camper van.
Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Canyon Country, California, June, 1983Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Coeburn, Virginia, April 1981Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Domestic Workers Waiting for the Bus, Atlanta Georgia, April 1983
What made Joel Sternfeld’s approach unique
Sternfeld used a large format 8×10 inch camera that he had to mount on a tripod. Unlike other photographers of this age, Sternfeld wanted to break away from the generic street photography that he had been doing in New York in exchange for a more complex vision of his country.
Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Exhausted Renegade Elephant, Woodland, Washington, June 1979Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Family in a car in tent city, outside of Houston, Texas, January 1983Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Glen Canyon Dam, Page, Arizona, 1983
He pursued this vision through large-scale color prints that appeared to be more detailed than the traditional black and white photos that he had gotten used to.
Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Grafton, West Virginia, February, 1983Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Kansas City, Kansas, May 1983Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Lake Oswego, Oregon 1979
The quality of the photos
Although it was not the first time that a photographer had captured Americans in such a manner (photographers such as Lewis Baltz2 and Robert Adams3 had done it before but in black and white format), Sternfeld’s photos had a speechless quality to them that was missing in other similar projects.
Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Matanuska Glacier, Matanuska Valley, Alaska July 1984Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, McLean, Virginia, December 1978Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Member of the Christ Family Religious Sect, Hidalgo County, Texas, January 1983
The focus of American Prospects
Additionally, Sternfeld’s American Prospects was more centered on the people and not on politics like some of the other more experienced photographers of that era. American Prospects was different because it exposed the indescribable ills and patterns of daily life that individuals try so hard to forget.
Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Near Ketchum, Idaho, October 1980Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Red Rock State Campground (Boy), Gallup, New Mexico, September 1982Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Red Rock State Campground, Gallup, New Mexico September 1982
Analysis
Sternfield’s pictures helped paint a different image for a country that had been convinced of its freedom and independence for many years. The subjects of the photographs were varied, but Sternfield’s skill persisted throughout, which helped to supply audiences with a consistent perspective so that none of the photographs in the series ever seem haphazard or wrongly placed.
Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Rustic Canyon, Santa Monica, California, May 1979Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Sauvies Island, Oregon June 1979Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Solar Pool Petals, Tucson, Arizona, April 1979
The need for American freedom has also been represented by nature in the pictures. The photos show how humans are constantly invading and destroying their surroundings either in person as they build their homes and societies or through technology and ambition.
Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Swift River, White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire July 1980Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, The Space Shuttle Columbia Lands at Kelly Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, March 1979Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Troy, New York February 1983Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, USS Alabama, Mobile, Alabama, September 1980Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects, Yellowstone National Park August 1979
All images: Joel Sternfeld unless otherwise noted.
