Eggleston revisited

Sam wrote<p>

 

<i>Eggleston was very much 'at war' with this type of photography.</i><p>

 

And it ain't working either:)<p>

I've come to this party late, and as such don't have the patience to update myself on all aspects of the debate. I just want to say that for me, Eggleston's work is almost why I photograph. Not to try to copy him, although if I could, I probably would, but because when you look at an Eggleston photo, you look again (I do), and you're not sure why you are looking, but you look again, there's a mystery there. For me the language is a pure photographic language, that shows me something words can't duplicate, or other mediums. And there's this underlying compositional sensibility that belies the seeming surface casualness. Looking through the "democratic forest" one night, my wife who was next to me and had taken off her glasses getting ready for sleep, said those are beautiful..'without my glasses they make perfect sense as abstract compositions'. The ability to capture that duality, for me is really fascinating in his work, and is a fascinating reality of photography, that there are these identifiable "things" in the chaos around us, while at the same time another underlying level of information and order. Eggleston shows this in form and color, in a way that I've never seen anyone else get close to. I've got a friend, a long time professional photographer who turned me on to Eggleston, Stephen Shore, and others and these are the people who got me excited about photography, and where I realized something was happening beyond just taking a pretty "well composed" picture. Another thing that resonates with me is that as I'm a jazz musician, Eggleston's photos simply grasp that improvisatory feeling and remind me of artists like Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman.. who interestingly met with much of the same type of criticism. As far as "substance abuse", he's living his life, not yours, get over it. Typical of the media to dwell on that stuff, it's not important, that's not a "lesson", or the lesson is, it's none of your business. Whether I know Charlie Parker had excessive habits or not doesn't change the music I hear. Same with Eggleston's work. It's beyond beautiful, and if we were to get our head into that space, we might find ourselves drinking a bit more also! These kind of artists remind me of astronauts, or shamans. They go "out there" or "in there" at great risk to bring back something the rest of us might not see. You can't play it safe and end up with this kind of work. IMHO.

Dean just nailed it. Dean, check out Antoine D'Agata, an amazing photographer here in Paris. Reviled like Eggleston was 30 years ago...but man does he have a vision!

Eggleston was very much 'at war' with this type of photography.

 

And it ain't working either:)

 

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'Ain't it':)

 

Hmmm let's see now:) Eggleston appears to have a chapter in the history of photography devoted to him:) You on the other hand....well, you're a pest exteriminator, well past your artistic prime:)

 

May god bless your evening and come by for a nice chat :)

Dean wrote<p>

 

<i>I've come to this party late,</i><p>

 

And it was kind of you to stop by and lay your rifts down.<p>

 

Not being into heavy jazz, I appreciate the clarity of what you speak. Thanks for your insightful comments.<p>

Here's my effort in regard to Eggleston and this thread. Shot it this afternoon while providing services. It's the ceiling of a customer's garage.<p>

 

<a href="http://www.photo.net/photo/2595025&size=lg">Eggleston Revisited</a><p>

 

Wishing all well with their photographic efforts.