Wednesday, March 19, 2008


Last night I watched, "William Eggleston in the Real World". Go rent it.

I've loved this guy's work since the late 70s when it really first started showing up in the big world. I can still remember his shot of shoes under his bed (or somebody's bed) from an issue of "American Photographer" - people were peeeeeeeeved! Shoes under a bed?!? Funnily enough, that was about the last time I ever saw his work until recently, when I started to get interested in taking pictures again. Evidently, however, it kinda stuck with me. Either that or (except for the "talent" part), Eggleston and I are just similar in our photographic interests. Watching him working in the movie was a bit like watching myself.

The movie also has something to say to the equipment freaks out there. Throughout, he was either using what looked like an Olympus OM-1 (though it might have been a Pentax MX), or (I think) some sort of old Mamiya press camera with a 120 roll film back. O.K., at one point he was using a Contax autofocus snapshot camera, but... And he didn't do digital. He also used a hand-held meter occasionally - a very, very cheap one.

Go buy "William Eggleston's Guide". It's cheap. It's great. You'll like it.

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