It took me a while to really love Eggleston as much as I do now, because I was so desensitized by the expectation of what a "good" photograph is. Now, he's my favorite.
Cool to see the photos. I'm from where Eggleston was from, and he got brought up a lot in my college film photography courses. I couldn't appreciate his work, back then; but, I've really come around to his color work over the decades. I really enjoy your focus on historical photographers/photographs. Thanks for all the great work.
Appreciate the kind words. I get what you mean. I wasn’t into Eggleston in college. I was very focused on documentary photography. But once my eye developed a bit more, I started to love his work.
What everyone keeps missing when reviewing the work of Eggelston is the fact that he was not out there trying to do great work. He was out there being himself, no fcks given, no questions asked and answered, no worries, just wonder at the ordinary of the daily and the mundane. If he did try to do great work he would’ve been mimicking the great work he saw published on museums, mainstream galleries and publications, just like the average photographer on instagram nowadays, and he would’ve ended up being just someone’s anonymous uncle that took photos.
To add to this. His background and the fact that he had access to and grew up around relative wealth and the art and eccentricity that comes with it, definitely affected him and helped shape his eye. Great eye!
yeah, definitely there is a humanizing effect, which i love just look at these body of works of legends and see this. also the quote taking pictures "of colors" instead of "in color" is just shifting whole perception of what is important in photo, signs and details to be framed or shapes and color without the necessity of that logical-detailed look on something. thank you great content :)
I just received my copy of this newly published Eggleston's photobook. It is fascinating to have a glimpse into his perspective on the everyday ordinaries Love your sharing...Well done!
as a Jamaican i don't have people to look up to but i found william eggleston and never looked back, he makes me realize that anything can be considered art once you look at it with a photographic eye
Definitely a great perspective to have. It’s too easy to get caught up in thinking about if something is “photo worthy” or not. That stifles creativity. But being interested in and creating from what’s around us is so rewarding.
17:30 "I don't know the story here". I know the story..... My father Peter Gethin Thomas was hired by a paint store in Memphis, Tennessee. His task was to create a wall of colors to demonstrate colors that were available in this particular paint store. Eggelston a friend of my father's was admiring the work and snapped this image of a lady in front of the wall of colors. That's how my father tells the story.
Thanks for the great vid Zach. Very nicely done and I appreciate your comments. It looks to me like Mr Eggleston mainly used a 35mm lens in these pictures. Would that be right according to you? Cheers
Hi Zach. Thank you for sharing this. I wish to ask if a certain image Eggleston took titled glass on a plane is included inside this book ? Thank you. By the way at 3:52 that picture is if his grandfather and his chaffeur attending a funeral. Oh yes the image is included !! I saw it at a later part of your video
Thanks so much for this video and "dissecting" some of his work. I've never studied art except in high school and your analyses really help me appreciate his work even more. I wanted to ask - the photo of the man filling his car with gas at 11:00. You mention how the pump and his arm form a circle and how the woman in the background with her elbow also points into the image. Is that all intentional when he snapped this? Because as a blossoming street photographer, I barely have time to frame the moment, never mind considering all the things you point out like the lines and the colours. Or was it instinct and that's what makes him so good?
Appreciate your kind words! After watching the Eggleston documentary and seeing him in interviews, I feel like he's likely not thinking much about composition when he shoots. He seems like he identifies a scene he finds interesting and makes an image. And sometimes it has those compositional elements and other times it doesn't. I think there's a whole spectrum of photographers where some see every detail while they're photographing and others don't think about it at all. For me, I usually see some of those things when I'm taking photos, but not always all of them. Sometimes I find good light and a composition I like and wait for an action or "moment" to happen. Other times I react to a moment and don't have time to compose. In those cases, sometimes the images turn out to have a nice composition and sometimes they don't but maybe the strength of the moment is enough to make it a good photo. I'm talking off the top of my head here, so hopefully this makes sense. I'm planning to do a video on the topic of "what makes a good photo" here hopefully soon.
@@ZACHDOBSONPHOTO Thank you so much for your reply. I think I'm the same way - especially in street photography. Sometimes things just happen so fast, you have to shoot before you have time to really compose. That said, listening to your analysis on several of his photos has made me want to slow down the next time I'm out and really study a scene to see if I can find those elements as Eggleston did. Not so much as copying, but more as learning. I would *LOVE* a video on what makes a great photo. I have found videos on what makes great art, but not specifically photography. Thanks again for helping me learn! I've recommended this video on my Threads account. 😀
