William Eggleston

William Eggleston is an American photographer, and has been for over 50 years. He is now 70 years old, and he still take photographs now, he says it's his life.
His photo's scream colour, he was one of the earliest photographers to use colour film.
He photographs anything and everything, and the world around us. He takes all sorts of photographs, including portraits, landscapes, still life and basically anything goes.
He doesn't set up shots, not like you would for a fashion shoot.

He doesn't title his work, if he does it's very rare. He doesn't even state the time or place where it was shot.
He has a personal discipline, he only takes one photo of any one thing. He says that it makes tghe selecting progress easier.

A lot of his photographs have bold colours in them.
He first bought his own camera when he was 18 years old. He starting off using black and white film, and printing off his own photos.

He basically taught himself to do photography, as he would just go out and take photographs of everyday scenes, he would get to know how to do it.
The black and white images look similar to each other, he take the same type of pictures in black and white as he does in colour.

William Eggleston was influenced by Cartier Bresson and his street photography. He would take photographs of things he came across, whilst out and about.

People say he was completely aware of every aspect of his photos - of what was in them.
He comes from a "well to do" family, this is how he could afford to do photography. Most people would have to have a job whereas he didn't have financial worreis, as his parents dealt with it all, and he could therefore throw himself into photography.

He spent 6 years at different universities, studying art, but he never graduated. Initially he photographed ugly stuff when he asked his relative what there was to photograph around him where he lived.

In 1960, he made a big impact on photography. He shot his first colour film. Martin Parr says "His colour is colour of nothing, ordinary life". At that time it was racial because every serious photographer was only shooting in  black and white. Initially, nobody appreciated his work.

William invades peoples space like a fleeting moment, he does it so quickly that they rarely notice.
He photographed his own family, aswell as the world around him.

He collected his own cameras, and took them apart, so that he could modify them. He had the same passion for guns, but he didn't shoot.

He photographs the world as if its the strangest place. It is said he photos everything equally with the same care and attention. He takes powerful pictures of almost nothing. It is the colour and tonal range that makes the picture brilliant, intriguing, uncanny and uneasy.

Wedding photography didn't interest him, he was too distracted by the world. When he was meant to do one, he ended up presenting pictures of the sky to the couple.

He used dye transfers, which were an old process, normally used for commercial photography. He used this process because it made the photographs vibrant, polished and glossy.

William Eggleston said that he found the colour red is difficult to photograph, he took a photo of a red ceiling, where his friend died, this links with the colour red as blood is red, and he was murdered. The colour also links with sex and emotions.

He shot some videos at a party, which were unedited. He says it's not his best work, they just document part of his life.

By the mid 70's, he had never shown his work in galleries or anywhere. A curator spotteed him and arranged an exhibition at the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art). The museum published their first ever colour published book. The curator helped organise William and select the best images which made him so strong as Eggleston had thousands of images.

His photos are also personal, because they are where he lives, and are private moments of family, neighbours and locals.

His photographs have been used by musicians, films and fashion.