The Colourful William Eggleston

William Eggleston is a 70 year old self taught American photographer, who is still taking adventurous pictures, in and around his hometown. His passion for photography began when he had his first camera at 18. When asked what he photographs William replied 'life today,' and photographed  'the ugly stuff' The photographs rarely ever have titles and he only ever takes one pictures of one thing. All the film images he printed himself and none of his photographs were ever forced, often invading peoples private space with his camera. So gently they don't always realise. His images were often cut off, giving them the feel of having something missing.
Alot of his experimental work was done on his children from a young age, where he would get them up early and make them stand for hours for his photographic purposes. William has a very different eye for things, seeing photo possibilities that not all would appreciate. 'Never take an image for granted' He was said to simply photograph nothing and claims it to be a picture, making it interesting.
In 1960 William Eggleston shot his first colour film, and it took a long time for people to appreciate his work as it wasn't something they were used to. He was also the first photographer to print none commercial images. In the early 70's a museum published Williams first colour book of his images 'William Eggleston's Guide'
This image is one of his famous photographs 'The Red Ceiling,' William considered it among his most challenging and powerful pieces, red being a difficult colour to work with. The walls are blood red, and still look wet in this photograph.
The term 'edit' didn't cross Williams mind and all of his work tells a story of his life/day. In May 1976 he has a show of his work which when reviewed people claimed it to be boring, simply because they just didn't understand it, or it was something new/different, but they later apologised. His work is now displayed all over the world in galleries and used in fashion, music and films.