RE: [Leica] Eggleston and colour (was Eggleston cameras)

[Paul Chefurka <Paul_Chefurka@pmc-sierra.com>]

Fair enough, stated that way.  What I was objecting to wasn't the idea of
using colour as an artistic element, but rather the "toppling into
pretension" that John Brownlow alluded to earlier.  The expressed idea that
Eggleston was somehow unique in seeing colour in this manner strikes me as
more than a bit breathless.  After all, painters have been dealing with
issues of colour and its perception for what - forty or fifty years, at
least ;-)

Interestingly, I have a saying (and I don't believe I cribbed it from
anywhere, though the idea is obviously not unique) that "it's easier to take
a good photo in colour, but it's easier to take a great photo in black and
white".  I've always felt that to achieve "greatness" an image must somehow
abstract itself from the real world, and that b&w images have an automatic
advantage in that respect - in that they already contain one level of
abstraction.  On the other hand, it's easier to make a "good" picture in
colour - the image is more accessible because it's more congruent with our
everyday perceptions.

In fact, I've given up shooting colour for the next year - precisely to
force myself to see the world in a less representational manner.  I used to
shoot nothing but b&w for my own work, but since I got back into shooting
after a long hiatus I've shot nothing but colour.  I finally realized that
the reasonjso much of my current output bored me to tears was that I'd given
in to the easy temptations of the pretty image - colour had substituted for
meaning, in some way.

So, anyone who can do great work in colour has my deepest respect.  I don't
know yet if Eggleston's work qualifies for me - I haven't seen enough of it
yet.  But if one of his thrusts is to produce art (whatever that means)
despite(?because of?) the presence of everyday colour in his images, then
more power to him.

Paul Chefurka

- -----Original Message-----
From: John Collier [mailto:jbcollier@home.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2000 4:20 PM
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: Re: [Leica] Eggleston cameras


Colour photography is a very difficult expressive medium as colours have
strong psychological effects and popular colour preferences are constantly
shifting. These factors tended to overwhelm the subject and the artist. For
years no one thought serious colour work was possible. Eggleston changed
that.

John Collier

> From: Paul Chefurka <Paul_Chefurka@pmc-sierra.com>
> Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2000 12:37:43 -0800
> Subject: RE: [Leica] Eggleston cameras
> 
>  But what really caught my eye on that page
> was the following line from the introduction:
> "He has also come to utilize the potential of color to the full, seeing it
> as a fundamental feature of perception."
> Now imagine that - color is a fundamental feature of perception!  Gee, I
> never ever realized that.  I wonder if he was the first person in the
> history of perception to have this breathtaking insight.  No shit,
Sherlock!
> Is it any wonder that people get all squinty-eyed when "artists" or their
> representatives start talking about art?
>