What William Eggleston's Photography Has Taught Me
It can be so easy to doubt ourselves creatively. We share a lot of what we do and the feedback we receive can decide what we share in the future. Perhaps we begin to share what we think people will like or change how we create.
Personally I find what to share or how often to share it so confusing and difficult. Especially since I decided to amalgamate wedding photography with street photography on my feed. I’ve been told this is self sabotage. But photography is photography. Why do I need to separate it?
Even still, I constantly question myself. Which makes this process of creating and sharing confusing.
I share these thoughts because I know I am not alone. It is scary to share what you do on this pedestal for everyone to see and judge with a like.
A platform should allow us to feel creatively free, not trapped like we need to follow a set of rules.
When I feel anxious and confused I like to go through William Eggleston's work.
The book featured below is William Eggleston: From Black and White to Color
He did what he wanted, the way he wanted, despite the negative reviews he received.
I want to share some of my favorite excerpts from this book with you. I don’t know how many times I’ve read Eggleston’s, “From Black and White to Color” but every time is just as exciting as the first.
“No attempt is made to reassure the spectator. There are no captions, few dates, just a flow of images that must exist on their own terms, fragments of the ordinary...”
“Eggleston complained to his friend and mentor Tom Young, whom he had met several years prior: ‘I don’t particularly like what’s around me.’ When Young replied that this might be a reason to take pictures, Eggleston decided: ‘You know, that’s not a bad idea.’”
“Eggleston’s images are not elegant. Rather are they rebellious, unwieldy, uncomfortable, and thus not easy to decipher.”
“Eggleston took many of his pictures from his car. Often the people portrayed reacted with surprise. I presume that this was a reaction towards the luxury cars he favored or to Eggleston himself, who, as an eyewitness describes, caused a stir: ‘Bill was always wearing a severe suit. It was like he was the count. Voluptuous and corrupt. It was unreal, what an image.’ With this, Eggleston is entirely at odds with the inconspicuousness prescribed by Cartier-Bresson, becoming one with the surroundings in order to take authentic shots without being noticed.”
And then he had his first exhibition at MoMA…
“We can only speculate whether Eggleston was impressed by the negative reviews of his exhibition, which culminated in the statement that the presentation at MoMA was in retrospect, ‘the year’s most hated exhibition’…”
This reminds me that yes, indeed, doing what you want is fun.
We should create because we react to what affects us, not because we think this is what people will like of us when we post it.
My encouragement to you is
Take the photos you want. Share what you want.
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