The Photography of William Eggleston
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- Опубліковано 9 лип 2024
- In this episode we put our creative hat on and look closely at the photography of William Eggleston, one of the most popular and widely recognised American photographers of all time. Thank you so much for watching & please be sure to check the links in the description to find out how you can support Mr. Eggleston's work & foundation.
Video Breakdown
00:00 - Intro
02:31 - Eggleston in Black & White
04:12 - Eggleston in Colour
06:17 - Evocative use of Colour
08:18 - Emptiness
09:07 - Photographic Projects
11:58 - Conclusions
Find out more
egglestonartfoundation.org
katarimag.com/en/william-eggl...
www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/w...
Watch "The colourful Mr. Eggleston" (2009) by BBC
• Imagine | The Colourfu...
Some affordable books on William Eggleston
William Eggleston Portraits
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The Beautiful Mysterious: The Extraordinary Gaze of William Eggleston
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Join our reddit community
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Links to my work
www.thopper.uk
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Music by
Trust by Prod. Manuel (licensed)
Disclaimer
This video has no intent of copyright infringement, its an incentive to educate viewers about Mr. Eggleston's career and his impact in the photography & art worlds, as well as, an incentive to support Mr. Eggleston's career. - Фільми й анімація
Took me a long time to appreciate Eggleston’s work. Loved this video!
Actually me too and I think when I read about the years he lived, the state of photography and why he created such a great disruption and change I was even more touched by his work. Thank you for watching Matt! (Ps - been loving your last videos!)
No lie, this channel and the community around it is one of the best I’ve encountered on the internet.
That’s so heart warming, thank you George!
So true
@@TatianaHopper I only discovered your channel moments ago, watching your admonition that photographers could learn something from Kurosawa (BIG fan) and I'm impressed with your comprehensive understanding of the subject matter at hand. Just heard your comment on Kodachrome 🤣 I however, am old enough to have used Kodachrome though only for travel shots. I was too much a solidly B&W photographer at the time, late 70's & 80's before my own foray into color abstract photography in the early 90's, I now do both. I'm thoroughly enjoying this video and will rewind now. Thanks!
@@TatianaHopper I'll make one more observation: I do like very much that you present in a way and a fashion that has no prejudice at all and yet, is deeply rooted in a quite comprehensive understanding. Christenberry like Eggleston not only both Bill's 🤣 are deeply rooted in the South, it's a regional quality they have that informs their eye, whether photographing here in the South or anywhere, it's an intangible but present in their work, and their work although similar is also quite different.
I forgot to mention this, and maybe you have done this already, but I'd love to see what you have to offer concerning early Czech modernist/surrealist photography, at the same time contrasting it with Czech photography of the latter 20th century in particular, Josef Koudelka, Viktor Kolar & Jiri Hanke or others, your choice. Hanke did a wonderful little book of photographs over a period of time, that looked out onto the street from his flat above his place of work, many of them during his lunch break, the same view and perspective every day yet with wonderful variety. Also, I see you've done one of my favorites Vivian Maier, and if you haven't, may I also suggest Vanessa Winship. I should probably check your channel first!
I was lucky enough to meet him while I was a student in 1985.....he was quite the eccentric gentlemen.....if you can find an interview he did with Vanity Fair magazine , it is quite enlightening piece...
The more I view his work, the more that I appreciate it.
Same here!
Beautiful video. And very wise words in your conclusions. In this times of wild history revisionism, it´s a relief to see someone that do not judge the past events with today's mentality nor point of view.... Thank you for your time and effort
Thank you for showing me more of William Eggleston‘a work.
His color work (especially the ones without people) is exceptional in evoking a feeling of nostalgia and melancholy....similar to Robert Frank, but in color, and your music choices just add to the emotion. Great job 👍👍👍✌🧡
Thank you Joseph. Really appreciate it! Thank you for watching 🧡
William Eggleston and Vivian Maier My Favorite!
Whats moves me the most in Eggleston's photograph is their simplicity. It's a kind of straight plaisir of seeing things as they emerge just in front of our eyes.
It reminds me a scene in a strange movie, One hour photo. Robin Williams played a withdrawn employee in a photo lab. One day, he was deeply affected by a child's photographs (spoiler).
A bravo award for your personal approach of Eggleston's work!
I’ve watched that movie it’s called “one hour photo” ahah
@@TatianaHopper That movie is a Leica Minilux advert. 😉
In looking at Eggleston's work, we do see an emphasis on things and places that evoke questions, mood and feelings. The objects themselves are not poor are, but they get us to ask where this is, what happened here and most important--and unspoken--who made this, who lived or worked here. It gets our minds and emotions to connect w something past. In a digital age where history is not given much importance, a photo of a thing or place that gets us to connect w a past is a good thing.
Absolutely agree with you on that Norman, thank you for watching!
Great insight into one of my favorite photographers. His pictures are truly timeless. I have lived in the south for 58 years. The images he captured reflect much of the current south if one disregards the fashions and the models of vehicles in his images. He captured the ethos of the region like no other photographer. Excellent video. I’ve subscribed.
That’s great, thank you so much for watching T. Also have a look at William Christenberry or Mary Ellen Mark. I find that they also captured a lot of the idea of the south. But I can be wrong because I’m not American although I’ve been fascinated by the country’s history for a really really long time.
Eggleston was a genius, a pioneer and in my opinion, unfortunately influential to too many young photographers. His MOMA exhibit was ground breaking not only for it being in color(!) but also for the initial banality of the photos. People were outraged, as they were with Duchamp's urinal. The work was challenging at the time. Ordinary but also revolutionary.
The many ersatz Egglestons to come after him did not challenge the current standards of art or present the ordinary in a new light as he did. Eggleston's work was not nostalgic. It was of its time. The many over saturated, filmic looking photos of vintage cars and diners are not tributes to him, but actually misunderstand what he represented.
There was only one like him.
Keep up the great videos,
Thank you Jimmy. Well put when you said “ordinary but also revolutionary”. I guess the same goes to pop art.
Timeless... Simplicity... exactly why I love photography
I love how you didn’t just give us the facts and information but u gave us that plus your views and perspective. I love it!
Thank you Kailyn, I appreciate it and yes I always try to share my two cents on the subject matter of the video :)
discovered your channel a few days ago, watched most of its content and must admit: you are doing a great job. i really enjoy your documentaries. you must spend a lot of time on research and reflecting about the photographer you present. i really appreciate it! a big compliment, please keep it going for a while!
Thank you so much for the kind words. Really appreciate the compliment & thank you for watching!
Appreciate the deep dive into Eggleston's work. In the past, colour photography was not considered fine art unlike black/white photography. MoMA’s 1957 conference « Experimental Photography in Colour » featured 20 colour photographs by Saul Leiter; in 1962 they profiled Ernst Haas in their first single-artist exhibition of colour photography; in 1976 they devoted an exhibit to William Eggleston. Eggleston's book « Guide » was published in 1976 while Joel Meyerowitz Cape Light printed in 1978 focused on colour images of Cape Cod. The evolution of colour photography to fine art is worth documenting in a video.
Eggleston's work resonates with my personal photographic style. Thanks for such a great presentation!
Eggleston's work is like Classical music. To appreciate it you need to spend time with it. Learn it's language, structure, etc. Takes some work but slowly it reveals itself for the beauty it is.
I loved that analogy there. Cheers for watching! :)
Sometimes we know what we’re doing when we do it and sometimes we figure it out later. Regardless, Eggleston created an aesthetic and capturing things that we see but don’t pay attention to. We’re fortunate for the exercise.
Many thanks for your observations and perspectives on Egglestons work. Refreshingly different personal presentation. Good one.
Thank you so much !
I am heartened with your great skills of articulating your keen perceptions and lovely characterizations of Eggleston’s body of work. Well done. Thank you .
Thank you Stephen! Appreciate it.
Gosh this video was good. Beautifully articulated, wonderfully edited and meticulously researched. What a gift to just discover this channel! Cant wait to watch more
Thank you Adam! I really appreciate the support and kind words! :)
Love his work! Spontaneity, timelessness, intuition/feeling, the "eye's mind" as I like to call it. All tremendous and valuable takeaways I found in his work. Love the enthusiasm and insights in this video. Thanks for this. Wonderful work, again, T!
Thank you John glad you liked it now onto the next :) maybe christenberry ahah
Wonderful job!!!!!! You have one of the best photography channel on UA-cam!!!!
Thank you so much ✨
Your videos get me thinking more about why I take photos and makes me think deeper about my own work. I love you for that.. Thank you for all the amazing content you produce!!
♥️
Thank you for watching Michael. Appreciate your comment!
The Red Ceiling, and the Child's Tricycle, and I Think the Green Shower room are my favorites....
I just discovered your channel, as someone who just got into photography, I greatly appreciate you bringing quality content for us to learn from, and for us to study these iconic photographers
Love the approach you mentioned towards the end. A nice way of slowing down in these times of instant gratification.
i've been subscribed for a while but only recently started truly paying attention to your content and wow.. did i do myself a disservice by not tuning in sooner. Love your videos
It’s okay I forgive you 😂 just kidding thank you for watching, much appreciated!
Thank you so much for all the effort and research you put into these videos.
Thank you for watching Kees. Appreciate it!
Loved your words at the end for shaping our own opinion/feelings for someone’s work. And your way of telling us, how you see his work.
Thank you Rebecca I felt it was indeed an important point to include in the video.
Best part of my morning is kicking back and learning from you!
Thank you Ry!
Your episodes are such a great introduction to the work of these fascinating photographers. They really help broaden visual literacy. Top stuff.
Thank you Steven!
Eggleston's photos are simply amazing, while he is really mostly known his color works, i love his b&w work more. i have the BEFORE COLOR photobook and i just love it even though i have some of his color books too
A fantastic book!
I’m really enjoying your videos about photographers. Thanks for doing the research and hard work to curate these.
Thank you so much Jim!
I love the fact that everyone is photographing like William on youtube these days, maybe without knowing him : )
Brilliant as always T, and truly one of the best photographers of the 20th century. In my eyes anyway. Cheers.
Thank you Clarhett indeed he was a very talented photographer!
I really enjoyed this video, including your closing thoughts. It has become more difficult to preserve that sort of balanced, centered view of both our actual and virtual surroundings, given our easy and instant access to literally boundless information on every imaginable subject. I appreciate the way you present your well thought out and researched videos, including the use of period footage to frame and set the mood for appreciation of the artwork. I always learn something and am inspired both to explore more about your subjects as well as to experiment with observing my environment from the viewpoint of the various artists whose work you highlight.
Thank you Ben! Much appreciated I do try ahah I will for sure keep working on videos like this. Cheers!
Really interesting video. I’m new to photography and like how Eggleston’s wife encouraged him to photograph the mundane and ordinary. I like landscape and street photography. The landscape is quite flat and rural where I live so that’s quite challenging. Eggleston’s work captures a point in history as well as being artistically beautiful. Thank you for sharing his work.
Thank you for the beautiful video! Enjoying my coffee and the video on Sunday :)
Thank you for watching, sounds like a pretty solid Sunday!
you're doing some great work, to showcase work of these wonderful photographers to our generation. I always feel inspired and try to improve after watching these kind of videos of yours. Keep creating pls!
Thank you! I appreciate it & that’s exactly one of my goals!
Inspiring, this has been my first encounter with Eggleston's work. Humane and humbling, very in the mould of Henri Bresson for me, the everyday, the ordinary becoming hypnotic and worthy of image capture. Click!
Thank you David, completely agree with you.
Thank you for this video! I love Eggleston's work, I feel like the colors hit you in the face but then there is also this sort of inaccessibility to the photographs as well, like a sense of unease almost, or just curiosity or subtleness, which is an interesting kind of disorienting dichotomy that sets them apart from a lot of "desiccated American landscape" stuff. I also think the idea of nostalgia in photography specifically this kind of photography is so interesting. I remember reading a thing with Stephen Shore where he basically said that when he was making his early work, it was super weird and avant garde and he was taking pictures of the mundane, people didn't really know what to make of it, and it only gained this sort of second wave of interest more recently once it was far enough in the past that a new generation was like "oh look at those cool cars from the 70s how nostalgic" essentially. So I wonder how Eggleston's work would have felt without this lens (not that it's necessarily a bad thing). I think a good deal of vapid contemporary photography and art skates by by kind of abusing nostalgia, or being about nostalgia and nothing else. I'm just as guilty of this as anyone, but it's definitely a curiosity I have. I wonder if it's specifically an American thing. And it does feel dangerous in that sense, like...almost reminiscent of Make America Great Again...why do we want to go back? And only straight white men can really have the freedom to enter these spaces and make these photographs. But anyway. Mainly, like, what am I drawn to in photographs that ISN'T about nostalgia or some sort of pang in my stomach?! Not that any of that is bad, but asking the question challenges me in a nice way. ANYWAY, wow I really ramble on your videos, thank you for creating engaging videos as always!
Your comments are always very interesting, always greats thoughts and questions. And now you also got me thinking Sadie ahah thank you for that and for taking your time to share your thoughts with us & of course for watching!
It is like the movie Demolition Man, playing vintage TV commercial jingles will be trendy in the future. Since I wasn't raised under the similar surrounding and environment, many of these vintage images are just passing interest unless they have some photographic values.
Hey Sadie, nice words, I was wondering if you have a blog where you write ideas?
I'm thinking the same thing and it's not an american thing. I live in Paris. I'm really sensitive to Brassaï, Doisneau, HCB and other early street and social photographers. When I walk the streets and raise the viewfinder to my eye, nothing is like what I see in those photographer work, and I end up lowering the camera, disappointed. I might be wrong but I came to the conclusion that the simple aesthetic I'm looking for is just strong nostalgia and romanticism. A feeling that "it was better before", "it was more beautiful", and that we'll never have that again. Well, never, in 50 years maybe the next generation will have the same feeling.
@@TatianaHopper Thank youuu!
@@REMY.C. @R. G. I don't have a blog or anything I just do a lot of thinking and reading haha. I'm very new to photography and have always been a musician but I became obsessed with this medium when I lost my way with music. I do actually have a Tumblr where I just sort of shitpost my work, learning process, it's spongetoast.tumblr.com if you want to check it out but I assure you it's nothing special and the distance between what I want to create in my head and what I am capable of yet is vast. I'm in the planning stages of my first two photo projects rn, one about the inaccessibility of American landscape to queer people and one that is more an autobiographical thing about growing up trans. My favorite artist David Wojnarowicz had this thing where he always said that society made him want to climb a water tower and start shooting, and that art was the thing that kept him from the water tower so to speak, so I have an idea for this photo project called Descending The Water Tower about my upbringing...my friend is helping me storyboard it and I have pages and pages written and am planning all the shots and locations etc. Kind of just about breaking the cycle of trauma and grief and carving out the beauty you want to see in the world. It will make sense when I finish it in like 5-10 years haha. Right now I'm all talk though :)
And yes, more to your point about nostalgia, romanticism, and lowering the camera disappointed, I so relate. The world now is so saturated with logos and distracting cultural signifiers. With early street photography I feel like it could be more about motion, shadows, shapes, and colors, there was less distraction. But I think it's up to contemporary photographers to figure out how to give meaning to the current landscape. Like, yeah, it fucking sucks that if I want to go to NYC and take pictures of the East Village I'm basically just going to be taking pictures of like Chipotle n shit..... but it's a cop-out to fall into the thinking that there's nothing to photograph now! Maybe the world was more beautiful before, there was more filth and grime and character and less sterility, but I bet we can still find the good stuff we just have to stay creative and curious :)
I LOVE THIS SERIES THANK YOU!!!
🙏🏻
He’s been my inspiration! I wonder if his work inspired many Instagram photographers because I see some influence.
It was a great part and it was very enjoyable ... This is really valuable. Thank you.
Thank you Onur!
Eggleston has always been my favorite, thank you for the video!
Thank you for watching Frank!
Another great video, loved that you highlighted the importance of forming ones own opinions. And that quote in the end is certainly something I needed to hear. What an interesting way to at the world. Thank you for your contribution 🙂
Thank you so much for your kind words and support Sathya! Indeed we live in an age where forming one’s opinion is extremely difficult due to so much influence from all sources. So conclusion keep it true to yourself ✌🏻
Hey, I stumbled across this video a few days ago. I love Eggleston's work. I've been working through your Film Photographers You Should Know series which is fantastic. Looking at the topics of your other videos it is safe to say they are all on my watch list!
Thank you for watching Daniel, appreciate the support!
Beautiful work very well presented thank you 🙏
You have a really good channel. Every video is informative and full of good comments. Keep it up.
Thank you Ali!
I love your perspective on Eggleston’s photography, so well put..
Thank you!
I'm always fascinated by the way images are interpreted. Having never been to America, Eggleston's work strikes me as focussed on everyday detail rather than spectacle. When I saw interpretations of his work such as the red roof with white cabling compared to the Southern Cross it really interested me that such political themes could be attributed to his work. This is the ongoing wonder of photography. I really appreciate this video, thank you.
Thank you. It’s true I’ve also read that, people can read things so differently. With his work I usually don’t find any symbols because he himself said he photographed most things based of its formal qualities (shape, form...)
this was long awaited. i mean for me ahaha!
notif gang!! ❤️⚡
Yay keep those notifications on! Thank you for watching!
Thanks to UA-cam and channels like yours I am switching from b&w urban and street photography to colour. I think I understand the work from photographers such as Leiter and Eggleston better now and I can appreciate their images more. Thank you. Excellent channel by the way !!!
That’s really cool. Glad the videos had a good impact, cheers Ines.
An excellent video on one the great photographers and it was nice to see some of his earlier B&W work :)
Thank you for watching Kevin!
Great discussion, loved it.
That was cool nice one thanks enjoyed watching that.
Great content as usual. Very good vibes and great images.
Thank you Sheere!
Thank you very much for your valuable videos.
Thank you so much for watching!
Wonderful video, thanks
6:56 photography as an exercise in existentialism, which I subscribe to in my work...... thanks for the great content.
You’re very welcome Ali, thank you for watching!
Thank you for another beautiful video. I have long admired William Eggleston's photography; I remember very clearly at the age of 12, being particularly fascinated by the photo of the red room at 0:11.
Yes that photo is almost like a visual legend!
Thank you, I didn't know Eggleston's work, and you presented it in a beautiful way :) and I discovered your channel by the same occasion, which is always nice :)
Thank you!
I love your content…in depth…knowledgeable. Thanks
Thank you so much!
He is capturing his conscious state for the future
Thank you for another great video.
Thank you Tim! :)
El descubrimiento del día. Thanks for the great content :)
Super nice video! Thank you very much!
Thank you Roman! :)
thanks for sharing! strong message!
Another great presentation, T.
Thank you Ron!
Concise and informative. Thanks.
Thank you Geoff!
really interesting - thanks.
my favourite in your series looking at photographers so far - I find myself really relating to the images. don't know why but...
Oof! Thank you for this. If you haven't seen it, Criterion Channel is streaming, Michael Almereyda's 2005 documentary, William Eggleston in the Real World. I'm enjoying it in bites as the last thing at night...well worth watching.
I love the concept of photographing democratically - if you have watched Robert Frank's film, Pull My Daisy (available here on UA-cam) with Kerouac's improvised voice over, there is a segment that starts at 20:00 where Kerouac begins to riff on, What is Holy?...toothbrush holy? Your sister holy?...etc. I think it may be this concept; that everything under the sky is holy - could be what Eggleston was showing us. Whatever - it is a fine meditation.
Sorry for rambling. Thank you!
Awesome Video - thank you very much 👍🏻👋🏻
Thank you for watching!
I love you used the term "democratic wilderness" and I definitely agree with you. I am a fan of both Eggleston and Hopper and, actually, were the first two art books I bought.
One thing I like about Eggleston is the 'just one shot'. He used to say one shot is enough and, to be honest, I've been noticing that while I am out shooting: the first shot, in the majority of the cases, is the best one.
I think that connects with the feeling. The first photo was from the moment you saw that scene and wanted to capture it, thus imprinting that feeling in the image somehow. I don't, maybe this is just jibberish talking but I do agree with it.
I mean, a good part of my work, or of the work I see myself looking for, is based on these key aspects of Hopper and Eggleston combined (as much as possible, of course)
Super nice video!
You make great, great content. Thank you.
Thank you! :)
Really loved this video!
Thank you!
His work is amazing...great video!
Cheers!
Thank you for sharing. I really like his work.
A small negative is the word "African" in the title of the woman with the handbag portrait. But that was how it was then.
I remember those yearly World Almanacs & books of facts from the US being sold here with separate lists of black personalities in movies, politics etc.
Great video, I really like the work you're doing on youtube.
Thank you Mark! ;)
Another great video!
Wow you make such good videos! Keep doing this please, i love your videos, and your photos! Greetings from Greece!
Thank you so much really appreciate it! :)
Thoughtful meander into Eggleston's work. Whilst appreciating his work, I can't help but find myself drifting into a more critical frame of mind about his work. I see videos of him firing his camera before it barely reaches his eye. I guess I'm always suspicious of 'artists" who are family wealthy and really who don't have to find a job to support them, Cartier-Bresson was such a photographer.
Nevertheless, I keep coming back to him, so he must speak to me. Thanks for putting this together and great choice of music!
Excellent.
Good video covering William Eggleston style. They look like what one teacher called interesting snapshots.
His work or is it philosophy is really starting to ring with me. I find myself more and more looking at the art in the everyday normal
That’s great Terry his work is really inspiring :)
Excellent video. I hadn't heard of Eggleston until someone remarked that some of my work looked like his, so I looked him up. I think it was coincidental.
i just love bill egglestone.
i think he was the fist photographer i was like, admiring hes body of work.
before him photography was just, instagram and 500pc etc etc...
Great job, I think you put the right words together to describe his work. I never heard of his everything democratic line, and your explanation of it. It sounds like a simple concept to me, one I like. Thanks for posting this one.
Thank you Scott! Much appreciated.
I officially subscribed!
what i like most about william eggleston is that he can take a picture of literally nothing and in a way that every composition "rule" is totally neglected - and he makes it work. also like his lesser known books like "before colour" or "spirit of dunkerque" that show that his work is more than just nostalgia and bold colours.
Now I see you've done a video on Koudelka, still like to see you delve into early 20th century Czech modernist/surrealist photography. By the way my father taught photography at FAMU in the early 90's just after the Velvet Revolution.
I vaguely remembered Eggleston from History of Photography class, but he hadn’t quite registered, although I was familiar with Christenberry (I have even one of his exhibition catalogues).
I liked particularly ‘Election Eve’. It has a dreamy quality, that reminds me of others, like Todd Hido, who probably drank from him. Thankies!
Thanks for talking about the influence of William Christenberry who passed away a few years ago, was close to Walker Evans and a mentor to Eggleston. Christenberry took some risks in his sculpture and even though there are lectures and interviews from when he was alive, I haven't seen much about him since his passing.
Walter Hopps who took the road trip to Los Alamos with Eggleston was legendary since the 60s when he ran the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles which was the vanguard of California art and Hopps was close to Bruce Conner, maybe the most brilliant experimental media artist of the last 100 years.
Also thanks for comparing Eggleston's black-and-white compositions to his color work, something that might be interesting to do with Saul Leiter to see how these new colorists evolved.
Several of the commentators refer to Eggleston's style of photographing commonplace objects as "monumentalizing the everyday." I like to think of Eggleston, not as showing emptiness, but what some have compared to the Southern Gothic writing style of Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, and Eudora Welty which portrays the steamy tension just under the skin of the obvious.
I loved your thoughts. I think William Christenberry deserves a video on his own soon enough. And I think when I talk about him I should definitely talk about the moment of gothic south which is something I really like perhaps more in literature (Truman Capote or & Tennessee Williams) but that also crossed into photography with people like Eggleston, Christenberry, Sally Mann photographing extensively in its fashion.
Great message at the end it’s how you feel so true
Thank you Adam. Appreciate it!
Great video
It’s interesting to see the similarities between Eggleston’s work of 50 years ago and what kids are shooting today to achieve a similar “aesthetic” because they believe it’s what the masses believe is… ahem… “aesthetic.” More people today - not just photographers - are taking photos of things because of the feeling they evoke over the content. Nicely done! Love the channel!
Thank you Isaac!
amazing videos!
Thank you I appreciate it.
Excellent video, I just subscribed to your channel!
Thank you Sylvain!