Marisa Hoyt

REFLECTION

I really loved this assignment. I was not familiar with William Eggleston before this but quickly connected with and became inspired by his work. I think the most appealing part to me is the juxtaposition between the modern simplicity of his images and the much deeper connotations about society. The saturated colors add to the playfulness of the images and are a stark contrast to the banal, typical and rather boring subjects in his photographs.

I choose a three block section of downtown Charleston that reminded me of the area where Eggleston tends to take photos in Memphis. There was so much to take in in terms of color and urban scenes, but overall nothing terribly exciting was happening in the area. This seemed to make it a perfect place to emulate Eggleston.

My favorite photo is the blue photo of the building and sky in set one. I took a slightly different photo of just the building and sky because I liked the tones of blue, but prefer the one I posted here with the electrical post. I think it adds to the urban feel and the black power lines add additional framing to the building and overall composition. My second favorite is the photo of the crosswalk button in set three. The orange/yellow color stands out and the glimpse of the blurred car in the top of the photo helps bring an energy to the photo, albeit an everyday, run of the mill energy. Maybe even a suggestion of caution - press this button so you don't get hit by that moving vehicle.

When I'm out taking photos I usually feel like I have to find exciting, photo worthy scenes to make a good photo. It was refreshing to only focus on the everyday, unremarkable things around me. I will definitely think of this assignment when I take photos in the future and would even go as far to say this assignment and introduction to Eggleston has completely changed the way I approach photography.