With today’s digital photography and mobile photography, it’s now easy for anyone to become a photographer. Everyday scenes and commonplace subjects easily become the gateway to photography. However, photographing the mundane and the everyday isn’t new — just look at the works of photographers like William Eggleston.
But, this style of photography isn’t particularly appealing to everyone. Most of the time, it even makes viewers wonder what’s the point of the photograph or the body of work. So, to help us make better sense of this style, Alex Kilbee of The Photographic Eye decodes the mystery behind the “boring” photography of William Eggleston.
These photos of banal objects and random scenes confound people. What’s the point? What are they even about? Even Eggleston himself only had “life today” for an answer. So, Kilbee’s deep dive into his work and style makes for an interesting brain picking. Whether you’re currently into this approach or not, the video above should encourage you to start digging a bit deeper.
Apart from some basic facts about Eggleston, Kilbee covers some topics that provide additional context for his work. The idea to photograph the “ugly,” for example, came from Eggleston’s observation that he had nothing nice to photograph. So, a friend suggested that he photograph the “ugly things” instead, and it all started from there. “If you’re around where there’s nothing traditionally worth photographing, then just photograph the things that are of rubbish, boring, dull,” Kilbee noted. It was an obvious choice, and one that Eggleston took seriously.
The appeal of William Eggleston’s work lies not in some profound reason or story, but in its fluidity and reactivity. His personal rule is to photograph something only once — he documents what catches his eye, reacts to it, and moves on to the next subject. So, whether you’re feeling stuck in your photography or could use a creative exercise, try capturing the boring and the banal. Put your instinct to work and don’t overthink. You’re free to photograph whatever you like, in whatever way you want it.
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Is it a documentation of a place and time? – yes. Is it art? – no. Is it valuable? – Yes, in the sense of posterity. Is it greatness? – no. Is it worthy of showing? – Only to those who want to remember a time. Perhaps I seem unfair – but I am not. I put this in perspective of having seen collections of photographs taken oner time of their lives by ordinary people who will never be known or thought of even by their descendants. Perhaps the greatness of the individual is manifest in the minds of those… Read more »
Please start all of your comments with: “In my personal opinion.”, Like it or not, the definition of “Art” can change with generations as well as the general public, right? Eggleston´s work is based on a cross between “The Ordinary” and his interest in color and competition. I may be wrong but like most photographers, his works can easily be put into a few different categories, based on what I just said. Since he worked in the 50s, long before photography was considered an art form, about the early 70s, on a broader scale. To add: It is up to… Read more »
In my opinion, Eggleston’s work is Urban Street Photography. He may have been inspired by Bresson, yet his work has an individually unique vision of how he’s extracted the world he lived in into his photographs. Photography is about how each photographer sees his/her/their world. The exception may be commercial photographers working with a brief or clients, such as food and product photography, and portrait and wedding photography. When one views fine art photography outside the commercial realm interpretation by the photographer and the viewer becomes fluid. Eggleston’s color work has always fascinated me and your critique of his work… Read more »
Prefacing an opinion with “in my personal opinion” would be redundant.
What happened to my first comment?
If you were to see the works of two completely different photographers, like W. Eggleston, Memphis/USA, and H. Cartier-Bresson, Paris, F, by seeing their contact sheets and the order of their works from their first to last contact, you would learn much more than a
single person can say about their work.
To me, the most interesting part of this video is how the speaker tricks us by questioning and making fun of W.E.´s work for the first couple of minutes.