Here are 25 cityscape photography challenges inspired by the visual strategies, thematic concerns, and technical approaches of Stephen Shore—focusing on his use of color, vernacular architecture, flatness, frontality, and the everyday sublime.
Color & Light (Uninflected Palette)
1. Dull Midday Sun – Shoot between 11 AM and 2 PM on a cloudless day. Avoid golden hour. Emphasize harsh, flat, even light.
2. Chromatic Accent – Find a city scene dominated by muted beiges, grays, and whites, with a single unexpected color (red sign, blue dumpster) as the anchor.
3. Faded Chromogenic – Locate a storefront, billboard, or parking lot where saturated colors have been bleached by sun and time. Frame it straight-on.
4. Neon in Daylight – Photograph a neon sign turned off, under full sun, so it reads as a plastic artifact rather than a light source.
Composition & Viewpoint (Flat & Frontal)
5. Dead Center – Place the main subject (a building facade, a parked car, a telephone pole) exactly in the middle of the frame. No rule of thirds.
6. No Horizon – Compose a cityscape where the ground and sky are both excluded, leaving only the middle band of structures (e.g., a row of second-story windows).
7. Storefront as Portrait – Photograph a small business facade straight-on, with no people, as if taking a passport photo of the building.
8. The Parking Lot as Landscape – Treat a paved, striped parking lot with the same formal attention you’d give a natural vista. Find geometric balance.
Vernacular & Un-Heroic Subjects
9. Utility Sublime – Make an electricity substation, cell tower, or dumpster enclosure look monumental through frontality and even light.
10. Strip Mall Typology – Photograph the entrance of a chain store (CVS, Dollar General, laundromat) exactly as it appears — no skewing, no dramatic angles.
11. Liminal Hotel – Shoot the exterior of a mid-range motel/hotel from across a wide street, including the curb and parking lane.
12. Underpass Interior – Go inside a highway underpass or pedestrian tunnel. Use available light. No HDR.
Structural & Serial Approaches
13. Six by Nine – Shoot exactly 6 exposures of 9 different city blocks, moving in a grid pattern (like Shore’s *Uncommon Places* sequencing logic).
14. Same Corner, Four Frames – Stand at one intersection corner. Shoot one frame facing each cardinal direction, assembling a 360° vernacular survey.
15. One Intersection, One Hour – Stay on the same corner for 60 minutes. Take only 12 frames, each separated by 5 minutes.
16. Sequential Windows – Walk down one block. Photograph every single window (store, apartment, office) from a consistent distance and angle.
Technical Constraints (Large Format Discipline)
17. F/32 Everything – Shoot at the smallest aperture your lens allows. Maximize depth of field. Foreground and background both critically sharp.
18. Tripod Only, No Rush – Set up tripod, compose, then wait 90 seconds before pressing the shutter. Intentionally slow.
19. One Roll, One Block – Load a 36-exposure roll. You may only shoot one city block. Walk it repeatedly. Finish the roll.
20. No People, But Their Signs – Exclude all humans, pets, and moving cars. Include only human traces: posted notes, graffiti, checkout baskets, handprints in dust.
Time & Indexical Traces
21. Drive-By Vernacular – From a parked (not moving) car, shoot through the windshield showing dashboard, mirror, and road ahead — the city as roadside.
22. Melting Sign – Find a plastic or painted sign warped by sun, weathered by rain, or partially peeled. Frame it as the primary subject.
23. Unmanned Gas Station – Photograph a gas station with no cars pumping. Include the price sign, canopy, and concrete island.
24. After Hours – Shoot a fast-food drive-through or car wash at night under fluorescent/mercury vapor lights. Use color as information.
Final Challenge (The Shore Gestalt)
25. The Unremarkable Remarkable – Pick the most boring intersection within 10 minutes of your home. No landmarks, no interesting clouds, no dramatic shadows. Make one photograph that feels inevitable — as if the camera simply recorded what was already perfectly there.