Eggleston/Shore

William Eggleston: 

Eggleston is mainly known for his ability to photograph and find the beauty in ordinary subjects. His work was inspired by dye-transfer printing. He found the colors beautiful and wanted to photograph more ordinary subjects instead of producing commercial photographs like what he had seen. He has also been credited with securing color photography as a legitimate artistic medium. Obviously, the majority of his work is in color. I am amazed by how he can practice color theory and find ordinary subjects that exhibit such pleasing color combinations. Even his monochromatic work seems to have amazing color contrast. He does a good job documenting the simplicity of life through everyday subjects. I think his use of color helps draw attention to his work. Sure its a photo of a building and some cylinder. But the primary color contrast really brings our attention to it.  




Stephen Shore:

Shore began his photography career when he was 14, he sold 3 photographs to the curator of Metropolitan Museum of art in New York. He says that he first loved color photography because it not only showed the intensity but also the color of the light. He found the changing of light fascinating. It was amazing how much light could change in just a few hours, or that light could be so different at the same time of day on different days. Much like Eggleston, he photographed how beautiful normal mundane subjects can be. Shore's work has less saturation than Eggleston's but still shows beautiful color. I think that Shore also uses more subtle color theory. I can't always put my finger on why exactly the colors are so pleasing in his photos while in Eggleston's I can usually point out when he uses something like primary contrast or complimentary colors.