© Tatum Shaw. From the series New Songs
Portland, Oregon-based photographer Tatum Shaw's influences range from William Eggleston's 1970s color, to found vernacular snapshots and the American South. Generally off-the-cuff, his pictures are full of light moments that combine tension and humor, a deep understanding of how color can inform a narrative, and a smart, often poetic, way of seeing. While he's made several distinct series for more than a decade, his work could easily be broken down and remixed into an interchangeable archive of of photos-as-musical-notes. Here, his own snapshots, street photos, southern landscapes and found images could live and function as one. Whether his day job as an advertising copywriter bears some influence on this pulse remains a mystery.
Interview by Jon Feinstein