CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 5/30/2016

Stephen Shore in Picturing America's National Parks

"When the American photographer Stephen Shore wrote that, 'Our country is made for long trips,' was he being obvious, merely noting that in a place of such size, epic travel is inevitable, or was it something more profound? America’s newcomers had made long trips to get here. They had the appetite and the experience of distance. More importantly, might we not say that as a nation formed at the onset of an industrial revolution, perhaps even the concept of modern America presumes the need for long trips? The means of travel may come and go, but the impulse is constant." This excerpt from Jamie M. Allen's text and Stephen Shore's "Merced River, Yosemite, 1979" are reproduced from Aperture's centennial photo collection, Picturing America's National Parks.