William Eggleston

William Eggleston is an American photographer who was born in 1939. To begin with, he photographed only in black and white, but began to experiment with colour films 1965 and 1966 after being introduced to the medium by William Christenberry. Eggleston's work has been used for advertising for Marc Jacobs, as well as for album covers for bands such as Primal Screams album 'Give Out But Don't Give Up' as well as Jimmy Eats World's famous album titled 'Bleed American'.

I chose to analyse this particular photograph above as I found the shadows and reflections interesting and inspiring. I love how the light (which would appear to be natural light from the sun) shines through the window and we can see the colours of the drink on the table. This photograph looks like it was taken on an aeroplane from the shape of the window and the clouds outside. The models hand looks interesting in this photograph as we are not as to weather it is a man or a women - could it be the photographer himself? It creates an interesting shape as a shadow and this is a form of distortion, which I'm currently experimenting with myself. It wouldn't be too difficult to recreate either, and you could change the setting so for example on a bus or in a car that has one of those fold out tables.

This photograph has a vintage feel about it, probably because it is not a particularly modern piece, however this would be a technique to research and use in my own photographs - making the photograph look more vintage with the colours slightly faded. Below are some more examples of the faded effect:

I think that his photographs are interesting and unique, and can relate well to the theme of the everyday, which is what I plan to continue with. I also like how when there are people in his images, such as the ones above, you never see their faces, so there is a sense of anonymity about them, making them open to interpretation.