William Eggleston

William Eggleston changed how the world viewed photography. People thought a photograph could be artistic only if it was black-and-white and captured something important or beautiful. Not Eggleston. He showed us that a color photo could be as profound as poetry.

Eggleston was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Sumner, Mississippi. Sidelined by asthma as a child, he spent most of his time indoors, drawing and experimenting on the piano.

At 10 years old, Eggleston received a Kodak Brownie camera and started photographing his beloved dog. But the Brownie’s grainy results disappointed him. He wouldn’t use a camera again for a decade.

Eggleston picked up a camera again in college and was hooked. He majored in art at Ole Miss, discovered the street photographs of Henri Cartier-Bresson – master of the “decisive moment” – and decided his own future: photography.

In the mid-’60s, he started taking pictures in color, something considered off-limits for serious artists. To Eggleston, anything with bold color was photo-worthy and art-worthy: tricycles, girls at diners, even a ceiling.

By the late ’70s, Eggleston’s color photographs had impressed curators nationwide. They began devoting whole museum exhibits to his work. And visitors started believing that color photos belonged on white gallery walls.

Eggleston paved the way for color photographers, and he continues to influence photographers, filmmakers, and musicians alike. Everyone sees just a bit better through Eggleston’s lenses.