Decades ago I bought a copy of David Plowden's 'The hand of man on America' (published in 1971) which introduced me to what could be called American commonplace, photos of everyday things seen in the landscape, towns and cities. I've now got a collection of photobooks by William Eggleston, Stephen Shore, Joel Sternfeld, Jeff Brouws, David Graham, Lee Friedlander, John Baeder and others.
Mark Power, in 'Good morning America' Part II, follows this commonplace genre with seventy photos taken between 2013 and this year, they were taken across the country and appear in no particular sequence. There are some remarkable pictures in the book but I felt there were too many also rans. Photo fifteen shows a section of a hastily made door with the frame that cuts a picture on a wall in half or photo sixty-five revealing the interior of a church in Spearfish, South Dakota, it's just part of what looks like a hanging curtain and a row of seats. So many of the photos seem to lack any particular visual interest, either color or composition which actually highlights the really good shots.
Unfortunately the book's production doesn't enhance the photos. The good quality but thick paper (printed with a two hundred screen) creates a substantial gutter through all the photos that go over a spread and there are fifteen foldouts so these pictures end up with two creases. The book really should have been landscape, still keeping the foldouts which would only have had one crease. A minor point but why were the rather minimum captions all on one back page? They are set in a small enough typeface to be on each page with the relevant photo. This book is part two of a projected five and if they are all upright it will certainly dilute the impact of Power's creativity.
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