William Eggleston

He photographs the banal - the plain and the boring. The things that you wouldn't expect to be interesting. Born Memphis, 1939, lives and works there today. Eggleston has 50 years of working as a artistic photographer, photographing everything in his hometown. People often ask what he photographs, he answers them with 'life today'. Never titles his work, barely dates or locates where his images are taken. Only one picture is taken for one subject, never two, he gets confused and frustrated trying to decide which frame is the best.

Eggleston started at 18 when he got given his first camera and used black and white film; developing it himself. He didn't know anything and taught himself everything. The first images he took were  of the everyday without journalistic objective. Friends brought him photography books but only found one interesting - a lot of the images in this book featured Henri Cartier-Bresson. Bresson focused on capturing the moment which inspires Eggleston to capture 'today'. "never take any object for granted" is what he teaches to people because these are the things that he photographs. in a lot of his images have weird things happening around the edge of the frame and in the image. Sometimes things that are meant  to be there just aren't and some objects look out of place in the frame but this is what makes it interesting.

He never graduated from any of the universities that he attended and had a lot to do with his grandsons upbringing. Meaning that they were a massive subject of his work. As the world around him changed due to development; he thought everything became ugly, a friend told him to photograph the ugly stuff; so he did. In the 60's he shot his first colour roll of film, this changed Eggleston's career and the roll of professional art photographers because professional art was always black and white. Eggleston barely takes portraits but when he decides too he takes them very quickly and smoothly. Most of the time  people don't even know or realise that he was even there. He appears to be a collector of cameras and guns, never shoots them. However he has a lot of Leica's which he will take apart and experiment with constantly.

This image is very unique because the model in this image is dressed quite smart and the hair is well groomed; compared to the surroundings which isn't very posh which is the surrounding that you would expect the model to be in. The chain as well to the right is very intricate but looks like if you were to even touch it, it would lose its form and just fall down. I think the contrast of the subjects makes this image interesting because it questions all the social boundaries of class.

Other photographers find Memphis boring and dull. They seem to think he has this magic that other photographers cant reproduce.

Eggleston's most famous image of the red room was taken whilst lying in bed talking with his best friend and his wife. He had his Leica camera and a flash on the bed; he takes the image and they carry on talking. A week later his friend was murdered. Head caved in with a hand ax and the building was set on fire. Eggleston think that it might have happened because his friend was a drug user and he may have got into trouble with it.

This image is so vibrant and bright and the subject in the lower corner contrasts with the red making it stand out. However because of its position it seems to hide and doesn't get noticed by many people. The lines created by the wires and corners of the room create structured blocks which forms the image.

He worked with Warhol in New York where he was introduced to movies. He took a camera with him back to Memphis and took it to bars and clubs. Guns, drugs, drinking and smoking were all subjects because this was his lifestyle; as well as the plain and everyday which was specifically his art. They were 'boring' just like his images and he conducted his videos just like his images.

None of his work was exhibited until the 70's. William Egglestons guide - was his first book which was based on his exhibition. It showed his home, his family, his friends; all private subjects that are very personal to him. In May 1976 his first exhibition took place. Eggleston almost slept through the opening ceremony. Critics called the event boring and banal but that was the point, it was contemporary art, he wanted to change the view on colour photography however professional photographers were angered by it because they spent their lives perfecting their techniques with black and white photography. The critics didn't understand it even though they are paid to understand. After learning this they wrote to him apologising and since then others like Martin Parr have been influenced by him.

I have recently purchased this book and I always enjoy looking through it because it stimulates different emotions like awe, humour and sadness. I think that Eggleston may be the most talented and inspiring still life photographer since the 70's because he has the amazing talent of creating strange compositions with colours and structures within the images. Using variating shapes from different angles he can make very normal and everyday items very surreal and out of this world.