The article reviews Stephen Shore's book *Early Work*, which collects photographs he took between the ages of 13 and 18, from 1960 to 1965. Despite his youth, the images display remarkable sophistication, a feat Shore attributes to an atypical childhood that included early access to cameras and a copy of Walker Evans's *American Photographs*. The book includes a "pre-history" essay in which Shore reflects on his formative influences, including time spent at Andy Warhol's Factory and a friendship with headmaster William Dexter, who deepened his interest in photography. The earliest image in the book is a portrait of Dexter taking a photograph, which Shore describes as a metanarrative of a photographer photographing a photographer.
The review matters because it highlights how Shore's early work prefigures the essential character of his entire career—his affinity for ordinary charm, his attraction to the drama of everyday scenes, and his belief that a photographer's task is to render the world slightly less familiar. The article also underscores Shore's unique place in art history: he was the first living photographer to have a solo show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and at age 14, his photographs were purchased by Edward Steichen for the Museum of Modern Art. The book offers insight into the development of a major American photographer and the threads that shaped his artistic vision.