Moan and Whinge

There was a photographer (his name escapes me, if anyone knows, let me know!) , quite famous who tried to burn all his negatives in a skip after a bad day. He was later quoted to saying he 'had had enough'. Thirty or so years of work gone, although a large part was salvaged.

I had an MA interview the other day, and halfway through, I looked at what I perceived to be a strong portfolio, and considered it on a more... objective level. The idea of the 'project' has been very much on my mind. The pre-conception and arrangement of a series of images on the same subject, loosely bound into a body work, for me finally does nothing. I greatly admire stuff like( http://www.phillipsdepury.com/auctions/lot-detail.aspx?sn=NY010210&search=&p=12&order=&lotnum=344) but also, why confine yourself. I must see a dozen photo's everyday that I should have taken, but because of the precious way I treat film, and the fear of 'not belonging' to a body of images, used to scare me.

Then, you have Eggleston. I was trying to think of a photographer who worked on a far looser scale, and immediately thought of him. I think Eggleston takes a long time to understand. Last year a group of students after seeing his exhibition, simply said they didn't 'get it'. Up to that point, I had always got immense satisfaction from viewing his images, but had never considered them under anything more than a beautiful observation on mundane, ordinary and generic. He clearly has the ability to perk a visual interest in any object, or rather, can find those objects which are hidden that have a visual quality that makes us question them. I strongly urge you to buy/borrow any book of his. Look through it again and again and just enjoy the images. Restores my faith anyway