Documentary Photography

The photographer I has chosen to study is William Eggleston. William Eggleston is an American photographer who had a big influence on crediting colour photographs as a legitimate artistic medium to present in art galleries. He started to become a known photographer in the 1960’s when he got his first camera which used black and white film to shoot. Whilst studying at Mississippi University, Eggleston was introduced to abstract expressionism. His work was also inspired by Swiss-born photographer named Robert Frank and French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson's book, The Decisive Moment. Much of his work is of everyday situations but using different camera angles and lighting to give the audience of the images an insight to a short story or a sense of a particular emotion. I think his photographs make you realise how capturing everyday images in a particular way using variations such as angles and light can change how something is portrayed.  I chose to look at William Eggleston because I like his style of photography. By style, I like how everything is retro-American compared to todays photography even though they were taken in the 1960’s. All of his photographs are situations you wouldn’t be shocked to see which however some of them hold a big message that you wouldn’t expect to be attached to the image if you captured it with your eyes rather than in a photograph.

 This Eggleston photograph is of a very basic and regular table arrangement. It shows the rule of thirds, with the ketchup/salt etc in the middle third and shelves in the left third. Also, generally the horizon is in the top of bottom third, however the horizon or end of the table in this case is located very near to the centre of the photograph.

 This second Eggleston photograph is of a "closed" sign resting on a window sill. It takes up the top third and half of the left side. The window sill horizon also features in the top third as it would conventionally.

 This third photograph is off a childs trike. The low angle broadcasts the background very well, as well as keeping the trike as the main subject of the photograph. The horizon in this case is where the floor meets the buildings features in the lower third of the image. By putting a childs trike in the open, to me it shows that children have to learn to defend themselves by going out into the open on their own. However, the buildings in background are relatively close to the trike, showing that despite going out into the open on their own, they will never be too far away from home and where their parents are.

 This image taken by Eggleston is a good example of composition in terms of the rule of third. Each horizontal and vertical third is occupied by something significant in the image, whether it is a chair, table or picture frame. Also, the use of light which I assume is coming from a window of the left out of shot lights up the back wall with a good effect. With the darkness on each side of the room with the light in the middle, I think it shows that there is always something good (represented by the light) very close to something which might be a bit more depressing.

This final image I have chosen to talk about about by Eggleston shows that you only have to show part of an image to show the audience what is going on in the photograph.ole car hasn't been photographed, we as an audience know it is a car that has been parked next to a post with a chain around it. You can also tell that it was taken in America by using general knowledge.  Even though the wh Yet again, Eggleaston has deomonstrated the rule of third in the photograph. Personally, I think this photograph demonstrates stereotypical America, with the chains symbolising strict boundaries and the car symbolising the size of America and that without a car, you wouldn't be able to get far without lots of time in the USA.

 This is the first of the photographs I took in the style Eggleston. I think it resembles him style because it is of a collection of everyday objects, something similar to what he often photographs. This photograph shows depth of where the items are located. Also, the item in the foreground is located in the left third relating to the rule of third.

 The second of my photographs in the style of Eggleston is of a teapot. This photo is very basic as the angle of the photograph is straight. Also, there are no real skills required to take this photo other than having a slight eye for a shot. On thing that  could be improved is the lighting.

This third photograph is another photograph which demonstrates similar features to the previous photograph. The plain background makes the banana and apple the main feature with no distractions. 

This fourth photograph is yet again very similar to the two previous. Each of the three items relate to cooking/baking, however by just looking at the photograph you would not think of this straight away.

This fifth photograph is a close up of my front door, showing the number and knocker. This picture is quite similar to the second Eggleston photograph in this blog post. The photograph shows just a small but most detailed section of a door, another everyday item which could be seen in an Eggleston photograph. In order to make this photograph better, I could improve the lighting to make the colour more consistant, brighter and more appealing to the audience.

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Overall, I think my photographs have turned out relatively well however there is still room for improvement. The first improvement I could make is lighting. Each of the five photographs I have taken demonstrate imperfection with lighting. For Example, on picture four you are able to see my reflection and on picture five the colour is very uneven.


Secondly, I think that the framing of my photographs could have been improved quite significantly. Apart from photograph five, none of my photographs demonstrate the sectional framing of objects which only show a section of an object but still allow the audience to know what the object is. This is best demonstrated in the final Eggleston photograph posted in this blog of the car located next to a post with a chain around it.


Another way I could improve the photographs is to use manual focusing. By doing this, I would have had full control over what the camera focuses on. This would have made the photographs more clear and possibly striking.


Finally, I think my photographs could be better is the angle of the photographs/composition was varied. For example, Eggleston's photograph of the childrens trike was taken from a very low angle. An object/setting can be taken at a variety of different angles and each different photograph can tell a different story. different composition set ups can also tell a different story within a photograph. For example if you were to photograph somebody looking a knife, a story could be seen that the person facing the knife is willing to use it for some unknown reason. However, if the person is photographed looking away from the knife many of the photographs viewers may think that the person has possibly turned their back on violence or crime and are going to start a new life for themselves.

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 This is the photograph I have taken to copy the original photograph taken by William Eggleston shown below. Overall, I think it is a good attempt at copying the photograph, however there are a few things that could be improved. Firstly, the frame could be moved to the left slightly to locate the left bed post closer to the edge of the frame. Secondly, on the right of the page there is a very empty space which should've been taken up by an old photo frame but I didn't have anything similar enough to put in its position. As well as this, the colours in my photograph are generally lighter than the ones that feature in Eggleston's photograph. This isn't helped by the brighter lighting in my photograph. Finally, I think there is a bit too much foreground in the picture I have taken compared to Eggleston's photograph.