I didn’t think much of William Eggleston in the Real World, at least at the beginning, where 20 minutes of film consists of 5 minutes narration while Eggleston ambles about taking photos, or while a somewhat drunk (or perhaps demented) friend (by the name of Leigh Haizlip) sucks on a lollipop and babbles about cancer and death while Eggleston doodles. The film seemed rather self-indulgent. But once past these scenes, the director begins surveying some of Eggleston’s images, and the photographer begins to talk a bit about his work. By the end I was inspired, not so much by Eggleston’s images as his work ethic. I remember someone in the film citing a huge number representing Eggleston’s career output in individual images (which I can neither recall nor find). Eggleston himself says he never used contact sheets and printed every image he ever took (surely an exaggeration but even so suggestive of his habits). Obviously, Eggleston was obsessive. His energy and drive could sustain a few photographic careers.
In our current age of mass ownership of cameras, in which a picture of just about anything can be found with a Google or Flickr search, perhaps Eggleston’s work has been stripped of its context. A massive collection of images of everyday things is now ordinary. All that remains to Eggleston is his historical importance and a body of work inspirational in its enormity.
I’ve been floundering in my photographic work. I like the OCA coursework because it gives me something to do, gives me a task, something to manage, a bit of work I can tick off a list and thereby gain a sense of momentum and accomplishment. But when that structure falls away, I’m left wondering where to go and what to do. The things I’d really like to photograph - Buddhist temples, monks, religious life and iconography - are not available to me here. So I have to find some kind of substitute to keep me going until I can do what I want, a subject to sharpen my skills and prepare me for the time when I can photograph those things.
Perhaps my situation is fortunate in that when I finally get to photograph what I want, I’ll be a much better photographer.
I read an ebook about Street Photography in the same day I watched the Eggleston film. The book was a rather slapdash affair and noteworthy only for planting an idea that took fruition once I had finished watching the movie. The author suggests creating a Flickr account dedicated to a narrow genre as a means of building an online portfolio. Seeing Eggleston crank out the images day after day, I thought, why not? I can do this. In fact I should be doing this.
My subject will be SZR, between the World Trade Center and Financial Centre. I will try to shoot at least one hour per day, process the images the same day, and after the summer set-up a Flicker account dedicated to SZR.
Here we go. Thanks, Bill.
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Links
A review from NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/28/movies/28raff.html
The film at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv2bho5rb5Y
John Szarkowski’s Introduction to William Eggleston's Guide: http://www.egglestontrust.com/guide_intro.html
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