Thursday Entry: Saturation

"What makes his photographs of nonevents especially meaningful is his use of color to convey the 'feel' of a particular place. He emphasizes hues that soak the scene or resonate in a critical way, virtually creating effects of sound, silence, smell, temperature, pressure - sensations that black and white photography has yet to evoke"
-Sean Callahan

Werski, T. (1999) "The Tender - Cruel Camera".
The Hasselblad Award 1998: William Eggleston, 4-11.

Author Thomas Werski defends the work of William Eggleston and states that his artwork established color photography as a recognized medium in the article, The Tender - Cruel Camera. Before Eggleston was given the opportunity to present his photographs at the Museum of Modern Art in 1976, only black and white photography was considered "serious", that is to say professional and worthy of critical attention. This said show, which was simlply titled, "Color Photographs", was curated by John Szarkowski, and was berated upon its opening. Eggleston's intensified colors were seen as aggressive and his choice of subject matter confounded critics; many believed that the images on display were haphazardly taken by an amateur photographer, due to their off-kilter angles and mundane subjects. The artist believed in, what he called the "democratic camera", a way of taking pictures in which every object is considered worthy of depiction. He showed ordinary objects in new, unusual ways, and enhanced his images, both aesthetically and psychologically, with a dye-transfer technique to achieve rich colors.

My work owes a great deal to the early color photographers. I try to pay attention to all of the different colors in the images, so that the picture can be interpreted correctly. My color palette usually remains subdued with a few bright elements. When I am making my color tableaux, I ask the models posing in them to come wearing neutral colors, so that I have a base to work up from. I do not want colors in the image to compete unintentionally. I find it most interesting to have at least one deep, saturated color in each image.