So what is the everyday, I hear you ask. Well I'll tell you. In my opinion, when it comes down to photography, the everyday is basically just all the things we see on our daily travels but are that commonplace that we usually just pass them by without giving them a second glance, or thought.
If you'd like someone else's opinion then you wont go far wrong with the concept of everyday life tries to capture life as a set of routines, practices, ways of living, thinking and doing things. It's purpose can be summarized by the paradox that it aims to see 'what is extraordinary in the ordinary' which is more or less what I meant but with a few fancy words to pan it out and make it sound more arty.
Or, as the slightly more studious than me Mr Aspinall pointed out by quoting Larkin the days where we live, which, if you think about it, is all in all a pretty accurate citation ( I use the word loosely in the hope of trying to fool those that don't know me into thinking I had a better education than they did ).
Armed with this knowledge we were then split into two groups with the first being given the task of researching Martin Parr, probably best known for his Last Resort: Photographs Of New Brighton, and the second (ours) the one and only William Eggleston, or Billy Egg as I've affectionately renamed him. Upon completion of our research we were instructed to create a powerpoint presentation on our designated photographer which we would present to the other group before finally being set loose upon the surrounding vicinity under the instruction to return with some images that we felt were a good interpretation of our subjects work....so we did.
William Eggleston was born July 27, 1939 in Memphis, Tennessee. Following on from a rather introverted childhood which he spent playing piano, drawing and playing with electronics he went on to attended 3 universities but was unsuccessful in acquiring a single degree but what he did develop was his interest in photography after being given a Leica camera by one of his friends. He was inspired by the work of Henri Cartier Bresson even though he admitted that it took him a while to grasp the concept of his The Decisive Moment , and also the work of Robert Frank. He originally started working in black and white but by the period 1965-66 began experimenting in colour after being introduced to the medium by William Christenberry , a fellow photographer and artist. In 1969, John Szarkowski convinced the MOMA to buy one of Eggleston's images after a chance encounter left him impressed by a suitcase full of his of his 'drugstore' colour prints. Between 1973 and 74 Eggleston taught at Harvard University and it was during this period that he discovered the finer qualities of dye transfer printing after seeing it used for commercial effect and admiring it's over saturation so much so that he began to wonder what his own images would look like via the same process. Dye transfer is a long and complicated process involving separating the individual colours from the master negative and is a technique usually used in advertising to achieve much more saturated colours and so in Egglestons case the colour sometimes became more of a focal point than the subject .The obvious image to use to show this to full effect would be The Red Ceiling from 1973 and then his first portfolio 14 Pictures from 1974, which when exhibited in 1976 was regarded as a major turning point in the acceptance of colour photography as an art form.
All that was left to do was to try and come up with a few images in a style not a million miles away from that of the man himself so I gave it a go...
There's also plenty more information and images on Eggleston available on the www plus a few good documentaries on youtube but if you're looking for somewhere to start let be help by pointing you in the right direction
Now then, before I forget, the other group showed us their tasty powerpoint presentation on Martin Parr and although I may produce a page on my own blog on the man himself in the mean time it's worth checking him out for yourself while you wait, so to speak.
