Nostalgia

William Eggleston

William Eggleston is an American photographer born on the 27th July, 1939. He is widely credited for giving recognition to colour photography as a legitimate art medium. Eggleston was drawn to visual media from a young age, and he began his work during the 1940s and 1950s, where he lived in South America. Fascinated by the cultural shift happening around him, he began photographing these changes.

The image on the right clearly follows the rule of thirds and has natural lighting. This photo has a narrow depth of field, the aperture appears to be F/4 as the background is blurred, the shutter speed seems to be 1/1000 because the image is sharp, and ISO 100.

I have chosen to look at William Eggleston’s work for ‘Nostalgia’ because his photos have a vintage feel. I admire his skilful attention to detail in his photographs, and how every composition is different to another, including landscapes, portraits of people and animals, and more. Something I found remarkably intriguing in Eggleston’s work was how his photos tell a story. For example, in his portraits of people, the viewer is given insight to the variety of personalities he captures with his camera, which especially shines through in the photos which feel natural, and some even candid.

This aspect of his work inspired me for my photoshoots, which for the first photoshoot I took photos of my brother. I wanted these photos to have the same natural feeling as Eggleston’s work does, so I photographed my brother doing a hobby of his, which is fishing, and I also took some closer portraits of him. For the second photoshoot, I wanted to explore the theme of nostalgia further and took photos inside of my Grandma’s house, as it is nostalgic to me.