Taking One Photo with William Eggleston
#375
Today we are going to take a look at William Eggleston and his color photography. He’s well known for his color work, but after watching the attached documentary on him, I learned something very intriguing. A quote that reminded me of my own discipline with street photography. Watch the video, view his work, be inspired!
During the video you will hear Eggleston state the following…
“I do have a personal discipline…of only taking one picture of one thing. Not two. I would take more than one…and get so confused later..and I was trying to figure out which was the best frame…I said, this is ridiculous. I’m just going to take one and that’s going to be it.”
This is an excellent discipline in my mind. It saves time when editing, makes you choose your shot wisely, but boy is it tough. Especially in the digital age. I try it with my film photography, but sometimes after I take the shot, the scene changes into something better…something I hadn’t expected. When shooting still life landscape scenes like him you have a bit more time to think and compose the image. One shot should be all you need.
Take a look at some examples of his work and allow them to inspire your own photos or a painting. Throughout most of his shots he captures the primary colors (red, blue, yellow), but he also tends to throw in some green every now and then. In my opinion, red, blue, yellow, green is the best color palette to strive for, but it’s not always possible.
Thanks for joining in today everyone, I hope that inspires you to grab your camera and shoot some color! See you next time!
