Personal Background
William Eggleston was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1939, and currently resides there. He grew up in Sumner, Mississippi. Eggleston attended Vanderbilt University, Delta State College, and University of Mississippi. He received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1975 and has been awarded numerous other awards since then. In 1976, Eggleston’s solo exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art was one of the first color photography exhibits of the museum. In 1992, the Eggleston Artistic Trust was funded, and in 2019 the Eggleston Art Foundation was founded.
Style
Eggleston’s photographs are very in-the-moment and a representation of everyday American life. I feel like many people can find a sense of familiarity in his work, including me. I also feel like his photos are timeless; although most of them were taken from 1960-1990, many of them look like I could go out and take them with my phone nowadays. Eggleston’s photographs are full of vibrant colors and hues. In fact, he is famous for convincing more people that color photography is an actual art form through his works. For example, a very famous photo of his is of a light bulb against a deep red ceiling.
Philosophy
Eggleston says the more analytical and complex side of his work is “nonsense”. It seems like photography is something that comes very naturally to him that he doesn’t need to think about that much. Eggleston says (referring to photography), “Oh, half of what’s out there is worthless. The only pictures I like are the ones I’ve taken.” He seems to not think it’s an extremely deep or meaningful art form, unlike many other photographers/artists I’m sure. Eggleston says he never changes his mind while taking a photo, and always shoots with certainty. A quote that I think sums up his philosophy, or lack of philosophy, is “The only thing one can do is really look at the damn things. It’s just not making much sense to talk about them.”
Influences
Henri Cartier-Bresson infleuced Eggleston's work. Cartier-Bresson’s photographs are also taken in the moment, and are everyday life. I am influenced by Eggleston’s work by his ability to make everyday things scenic and aesthetically pleasing. For example, Untitled (1985) is of a fruit bowl in dramatic lighting from the sun. In this photo he is able to make something found in anyone’s home pretty, and I try to do that in my own photographs I take.
Compare and Contrast
This photo was very easy to recreate. I got home from school and saw this fruit bowl in my kitchen and the sun hitting the counter, and immediately thought of Eggleston's photograph. I think this scene not needing barely any arrangement and it already being photo-ready reflects Eggleston's in-the-moment works. In Photoshop, I slightly decreased curves and increased contrast levels to mirror the way the lighting is in the original.
Recreating this photo was more difficult than I thought it would be. Finding a plain, non-distracting background was hard because around my house there are a lot of trees and not that much open area. To get the angle where the bicycle appears bigger and stronger, I had to almost lay on the ground to get that low shot. I'm not completely satisfied by the image I took because of the part of the white house in the background behind the front wheel. In Photoshop, I slightly cropped and rotated my image, as well as increased curves and brightened it.
This photo was easy to recreate because all I had to do was go outside, point my phone up at the trees, and take a picture. Ideally I would have had a blooming tree like in the original, but unfortunately there were none around. I also would have liked a sunnier day with a brighter blue sky, but maybe not having those things further challenged my artistic and photography skills. I edited this very minimally in Photoshop by just enhancing the colors and brightening it.
Personal Artist Statement
I enjoyed taking these pictures because they helped me find and show the beauty of everyday things, just like Eggleston does in his photographs. For choosing what photos to recreate, I sought out ones without people and that didn't require much manipulation of objects or scenes. To me, Fruit Bowl represents the peace and stillness that can be found in everyday life. Bicycle is about how simple things or tasks may seem very scary and big, by making the bike appear large with low angles. Driveway View just represents summer and is a snapshot of my life during warm weather, but I feel it also has a sense of wonder and inspiration to it with the open sky.
Resources
21 World Famous Photographers and Their Photos • PhotoTraces
William Eggleston
William Eggleston Photography, Bio, Ideas | TheArtStory
William Eggleston, the Pioneer of Color Photography - The New York Times
William Eggleston - Biography | David Zwirner
William Eggleston
William Eggleston Photography, Bio, Ideas | TheArtStory
William Eggleston, the Pioneer of Color Photography - The New York Times
William Eggleston - Biography | David Zwirner