Nick De Marco Posted July 15, 2009 Share #1 Â Posted July 15, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Anyone else see this beautiful programme last night - Imagine on BBC1 on William Eggleston. Very enjoyable. What an interesting photographer he is. Was nice to see him still wandering around snapping nothing with a Leica round his neck (I guess it was a M6 or M7 with some kind of autowind). Anyone who saw it know what chrome lens that was on his camera? Looked suspiciously like one of the good CV wides, like the 28mm. Â I don't know enough about Eggleston, but from the work shown over the years last night, I guess he mainly used wide angle lenses. Â He also had a great suitcase specially made to fit dozens of old Leica L fit cameras in which I think he just collected for the sake of it. Â The whole film tempted me to shoot some colour film I must admit. What with digital (I am now a 5D Mk II user) I usually only shoot black and white when using film in my M6, but those saturated colours in many of his shots were great looking. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted July 15, 2009 Posted July 15, 2009 Hi Nick De Marco, Take a look here BBC documentary on William Eggleston. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
stunsworth Posted July 15, 2009 Share #2 Â Posted July 15, 2009 Those in the UK, or those elsewhere who know how to set up an anonymous proxy server, can see it for the next three weeks here... Â BBC - BBC One Programmes - Imagine, Summer 2009, The Colourful Mr Eggleston Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwelland Posted July 15, 2009 Share #3 Â Posted July 15, 2009 If you enjoy William Eggleston then you should keep an eye out for William Eggleston: Photographer, and William Eggleston in the real world. Both interesting documentaries with him. Â One thing that comes across is that he's definitely not a gear snob and seems to use a variety of cameras over time, including AF rangefinders like the Contax G1/G2. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
E.M Posted July 15, 2009 Share #4 Â Posted July 15, 2009 I think he is a great photographer. I also like the way he speaks and moves around, taking his time for everything. Â Etienne Michiels Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted July 15, 2009 Share #5 Â Posted July 15, 2009 I watched the first half, having never seen his work before (perhaps I should have done) Â One of the commentators made reference to how banal his photographs are. I agree. Â If anyone here went to a gallery with a body of work such as that, I suspect they'd be shown the door. Â Maybe it's just me, or the mood I was in last night. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Calahan Posted July 15, 2009 Share #6 Â Posted July 15, 2009 The Corcoran Museum of Art in Washington DC has an exhibit of his work at this time till Sept 20, 2009. Â future exhibitions / Corcoran Gallery of Art Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwelland Posted July 15, 2009 Share #7 Â Posted July 15, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) One of the commentators made reference to how banal his photographs are. I agree. Â If anyone here went to a gallery with a body of work such as that, I suspect they'd be shown the door. Â Maybe it's just me, or the mood I was in last night. Â I think that the banality of the photos actually grows on you when you see the complete body of work. It's the world around us that we don't bother to capture that really grows on you when you view it many years on. Â I know when I was back in the UK I went to see his exhibition at the South Bank along with Ansel Adams at 100 and I felt exactly the same way as you did - what's the big deal with this stuff ... but I have to admit that banal americana has actually grown on me more and more over time. I'm a big fan of Stephen Shore also who also can be thought of as 'banal' too. But ... Â I know that Eggleston, just like Robert Frank with his "American's", attracted the ire of the public/art world when first published. I haven't looked at a lot of the UK similar photography - I guess the closest I can think of would be Martin Parr? Â I totally understand that this genre is certainly an acquired taste. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
delander †Posted July 15, 2009 Share #8  Posted July 15, 2009 I like the way he takes photographs, only one because then he does not have to spend time choosing between near identical shots. Also how quickly he works, what about the slow considerate pace imposed by using a Leica?  Initially the photgraphs may seem banal but if you take a moment then you can see something more. I enjoyed their anarchic grittyness and also the fact that he did not feel the need to travel to the wild and wonderful places.  Like most respected photographers he obviously has a personal vision which others may or may not be able to visualise.  Loved his case of old L mount Leicas, great to see a photographer interested in the camera itself.  Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
delander †Posted July 15, 2009 Share #9  Posted July 15, 2009  If anyone here went to a gallery with a body of work such as that, I suspect they'd be shown the door.   Andy you may well be right, I can enivsage most of his photographs getting 'null point' at the local camera club competition.  Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sketchyhead Posted July 15, 2009 Share #10 Â Posted July 15, 2009 Interesting programme and in my opinion some fine images making ordinaryness interesting. Simple compositions, awkward corners, random angles and unusual settings. I view his work as a kind of photographic Edward Hopper in may ways. I would like one of his pictures as a large dye transfer print, perhaps the red ceiling. Â Paul Hampson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
veraikon Posted July 15, 2009 Share #11  Posted July 15, 2009 Anyone who saw it know what chrome lens that was on his camera? Looked suspiciously like one of the good CV wides, like the 28mm. I missed it on BBC yesterday. If it was the same TV feature as shown in arte it was prob. a 1.2 Nokton http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64157&highlight=Egglestone  PS: as far as I see there will be a repeat on BBCFour after Jul 22th Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolo Posted July 15, 2009 Share #12 Â Posted July 15, 2009 One of the commentators made reference to how banal his photographs are. I agree. Â If anyone here went to a gallery with a body of work such as that, I suspect they'd be shown the door. Â I don't feel inspired by his work, but I know enough about art to conclude that failing to appreciate his work is my weakness and not his. Â I'll be watching it on BBC's iPlayer on my TV sometime during the next week. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gesper Posted July 15, 2009 Share #13 Â Posted July 15, 2009 He has also done a lot of pictures using a Mamiya Press rangefinder in a 6X9 format. I have two of them and they are awesome. Some great lenses available and great flexibility in various versions of medium format as well as Polaroid. You can see him using it in William Eggleston in the Real World. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinis Posted July 15, 2009 Share #14 Â Posted July 15, 2009 A case of Emperors new clothes methinks ,lots of sex drugs and booze in Memphis .He strikes me as one of thse photographers (Anton Corbijn is another but whose pictures I do like )whose images become something else at the printing stage ,how much is a dye transfer print by the way? And what was that big fat lens ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick De Marco Posted July 15, 2009 Author Share #15 Â Posted July 15, 2009 Although I feel somewhat shamed to have not come across WE before, I found his work, and style, very impressive. I would not describe his photos as mundane, but of about mundaneness which is surely different. As one of the other pro photogs in the show said, anyone can take a photo of a pie of rubbish, but very few can make it look like WE can. Â Was not surprised to see Martin Parr discuss him either. I love Parr's work but it is clearly heavily influenced by WE and his particular style. Parr of course also uses MF rangefinders - previously the Plaubel Makina (I once had one of his) and the Mamiya 7. Don't know if he still prefers to use film but certainly WE does. Â Although it does not really matter I am still intrigued to know the camera and lens WE is using in the doc. I thought it was an M6 but could not see it clearly enough. Someone said the lens was a Nockton 1.2, do you mean the 35mm? Could be, certainly looked like a CV lens but I thought it was a 28mm - not quite as bulky as the 35. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
microview Posted July 15, 2009 Share #16  Posted July 15, 2009 I guess it was a M6 or M7 with some kind of autowind  At two points in the film the camera came into close-up and he was seen cranking the angled rewind manually. So that one, at least, was not an MP! On the whole I agree with Andy: as the film progressed (those druggy friends on movie film:eek:) I found myself more irritated and concluding that his stuff was about as profound as Tracey Emin's knickers. There was a lot or pretentious stuff in the commentary. One image did look exactly like a Hopper, as Paul says above – so that was something:o. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangur Ban Posted July 15, 2009 Share #17 Â Posted July 15, 2009 I've long been intrigued by WE and really enjoyed the documentary. There's definitely something interesting about photographing democratically. Â I'd agree that it might have been a 35/1.2 as it's a big lens, too big to be a 28mm, but I don't know if the lens hood is right for that lens and I thought they were normally black. The camera interestingly looks like an M6 (but could be an M7) but with a chrome M3-style wind on lever, chrome shutter speed and re-wind crank but one of the large motors on the bottom. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
el.nino Posted July 15, 2009 Share #18 Â Posted July 15, 2009 I am kind of "shocked" that so many people haven't heard about him before. He is the pioneer of color-photography and one of the most important and influencing artists of the last century. love his work and attitude. Â http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/film-forum/8842-i-love-my-mp-47.html#post820496 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stunsworth Posted July 15, 2009 Share #19 Â Posted July 15, 2009 I am kind of "shocked" that so many people haven't heard about him before. Â There were only two of them as far as I can see looking at the previous messages. Like Rolo I feel he does nothing for me personally, though I also agree that that's probably my problem. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
masjah Posted July 16, 2009 Share #20 Â Posted July 16, 2009 I watched the first half, having never seen his work before (perhaps I should have done)Â One of the commentators made reference to how banal his photographs are. I agree. Â If anyone here went to a gallery with a body of work such as that, I suspect they'd be shown the door. Â Maybe it's just me, or the mood I was in last night. Â I've never understood his stuff. Emperor's New Clothes to me. I'm the first to concede that this may be me, not him, and that there's more to his work than I'm seeing. But I'm going to have confidence in my own judgment - not to do so is precisely what gives the real Emperor's New Clothes merchants their look-in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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