William Eggleston

I am taking inspiration from the photographer William Eggleston. I chose him for his beautiful, vibrant photography. His images have an almost surreal, dream like feel because to the pops of red, yellow, orange, and blue. These colours make his work very distinct and recognisable, and though his subjects are ordinary, the colours make them feel extraordinary. 

Eggleston is an American photographer who is widely credited for pioneering colour photography. He was born in Memphis Tennessee on July 27th, 1939, and in his early life he was introverted, preferring solitary subjects like the piano, drawing, and working with electronics. He attended Vanderbilt University where he was introduced to photography by a friend who gave him a Leica camera. He started to take an interest in abstract expressionism when he visited the painter Tom Young.

William Eggleston took inspiration from the work of Swiss-born photographer Robert Frank, who is known for his influential book The Americans, which is a collection of images from the 1950s, showing America as it was, without the veil of perfection that was typical in earlier photography. He was also inspired by the photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, and his book The Decisive Moment. These were the two photographers I love, and I wrote about them both in my coursework book. Eggleston’s early work was in black and white, however when he was introduced to the colour transparency format by William Christenberry, he never looked back and used it for the latter part of the 60’s.

One of my favourite photos of his is the image of the Shake Shack drive-through. This incredible photograph has so much repetitive colour throughout the image. From the green in the car and the surrounding fields, to the red shake shack, red truck and red sign in the distance, all making the picture more dramatic. Also, the fact that such a building is standing alone, in the middle of nowhere, with nothing around it, further isolates the building and draws the viewers eye straight to the restaurant. Not only are there repeating colours, but there are repeating shapes and patterns too. The stripes on the woman’s shirt are repeated on the pole by the green car. The Swirling ice cream is placed in front of swirling grey clouds. The repeated words ‘the Shake Shack’ are across the shop. All these connections make this photo even more intriguing.  The repetition of shapes and colours is the theme that we see throughout Eggleston’s work. 

Another photograph that inspires me is the image of the McDonald’s restaurant in Eggleston’s book ‘The Democratic Forest’. In this shot, the repetition of red, orange and yellow makes the photograph vibrant and appealing. Also, even though the photo has multiple subjects, like the McDonald’s sign or the man walking along the street, neither diminishes the other, nor is it a distraction.  They both live in peaceful coexistence. The man’s front leg is also slightly blurred in the image, emphasising his movement and THE sense if his rushing to get somewhere. The man is also cleverly isolated by the distinct colour of his shirt, making him pop out from the rest of the image.

I love William Eggleston’s photographs. He has inspired me to include more vibrant colours, and incorporate more film photography in my work. I also want to try and capture moments with repeated colours and patterns, like Eggleston, hopefully making the images more intriguing.