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William Eggleston: The Tender-Cruel Camera by Thomas Weski 'I don't particularly like what's around me.' I said that could be a good reason to take pictures. He said: 'You know, that's not a bad idea.' Around the middle of the sixties, in the middle of the night, William Eggleston was standing in one of the first industrial photofinishing laboraties, watching hundreds of color photos being churned out of the developing machines on endless reels of paper. Countless such visits were to sharpen Eggleston's awareness of the world of images and its amateurish, unpretentious treatment by the masses of people who had their color snaps developed and printed in this laboratory overnight. For Eggleston, this confrontation with visual mediocrity was an altogether exciting and unforgettable experience and was to become an important basis for his later work.

Eggleston talks about his father. "He didn't mean for any of his pictures to make any kind of statement. They just are what they are and how he'd like them to look I guess." - Winston Eggleston

William Eggleston: "I am at war with the obvious." William Eggleston, a hero to so many photographers, finally agreed to talk about his art while a camera was running. I haven't seen the film yet (I'm going to order it today), but I thought I'd share this inspiring clip to go along with your Monday morning coffee. Wow.

"By the Ways, a Journey with William Eggleston" 2005, trailer

William Eggleston In The Real World trailer

Photographers discussed include Cartier Bresson Manuel Alvarez Bravo Walker Evans Robert Frank Lee Freidlander William Eggleston Joel Sternfeld