[2] Sternfeld’s photography follows in the tradition of American photographers such as Walker Evans and Robert Frank, documenting people and places with sensitivity.
Since the publication of his landmark book American Prospects in 1987, Sternfeld’s photography has intertwined conceptual and political themes, reflecting his engagement with history, landscape theory, and the passage of time.
Using a large-format camera, his photographs harken back to the traditions of 19th century photography, yet are applied to everyday scenes, like a Wet n' Wild waterpark, or a suburban street in the South.
In one such work, a crumbling fragment of an ancient wall huddles forlornly in one frame of a four-panel piece, surrounded by the scaffolding-clad buildings of a new apartment complex.
[14] In this work, Sternfeld examines Hart Island as a reflection of inequality within the American system, illustrated by the mass graves located there.
The book also includes mixed media pieces and documentation of installations created with Hunt in collaboration with the Museum Stadthaus in Ulm, Germany.
Over a period of fifteen years Joel Sternfeld travelled across America and took portrait photographs that form in Douglas R. Nickel’s words an "intelligent, unscientific, interpretive sampling of what Americans looked like at the century’s end."
Unlike historical portraits which represent significant people in staged surroundings, Sternfeld’s subjects are uncannily "normal": a banker having an evening meal, a teenager collecting shopping carts in a parking lot, a homeless man holding his bedding.
[15] In 2000, Sternfeld collaborated with Joshua David and Robert Hammond in their efforts to transform an abandoned elevated railroad track on Manhattan's west side into a public park.
[17] Published by Steidl in 2006, Sweet Earth presents sixty examples of historic and contemporary American utopias, pairing photographs of their housing with concise texts summarizing the communities' histories.
The work highlights possibilities for sustainable living, a concept that resonates strongly in an era of growing concern about climate change and environmental challenges.
His vision sparked a debate that evolved over centuries, with figures like Francis Bacon advocating for utopia through science and Jean-Jacques Rousseau envisioning harmony with nature.
The onset of the Industrial Revolution, with its profound disruptions to daily life, added urgency to these discussions, as reflected in the writings of thinkers like David Owen, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Engels.
The book, blending photography and social history, reveals the shared aspirations of these communities and highlights the ongoing relevance of utopian ideals.