“It made me feel that I had to work very hard, but I've always felt I had to work very hard to get my own approval.” Quote by Zadie Smith
“My friend who I went to boarding school with was interested in photography. He insisted that I buy a camera and marched me downtown.” SchoolPhotographyMy FriendsCamerasDowntown Author:William Eggleston
“Black-and-white photography, which I was doing in the very early days, was essentially called art photography and usually consisted of landscapes by people like Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. But photographs by people like Adams didn't interest me.” PeopleArtBlackInterestWhitePhotographyPhotographLandscapeBlack And WhiteArt PhotographyBlack And White Photography Author:William Eggleston
“And what we called photojournalism, the photos seen in places like Life magazine, didn't interest me either. They were just not good-there was no art there. The first person who I respected immensely was Henri Cartier-Bresson. I still do.” FirstsPersonsArtStillsInterestMagazinesFirst PersonPhotojournalismCartierHenri Cartier Bresson Author:William Eggleston
“A lot of my friends were mostly working in black-and-white-people like Lee Friedlander, Diane Arbus, Garry Winogrand, and others. We would exchange prints with each other, and they were always very supportive of what I was doing. What each of us was doing photographically was entirely different, but we were basically coming from the same place, sort of like a club.” PeopleDifferentBlackWhiteMy FriendsClubsPrintBlack And WhiteSupportive Author:William Eggleston
“I would go there quite frequently. I met and became close with John Szarkowski of the Museum of Modern Art. He was incredibly supportive about me working in color.” ArtModernColorMetsMuseumsSupportiveModern Art Author:William Eggleston
“The immediate reviews were very hostile, but they didn't bother me-I had the attitude that I was right. The poor guys who were critics just didn't understand the works at all. I was sorry about that, but it didn't weigh on my mind a bit.” MindGuyBitsPoorAttitudeCriticsSorryBotherReviewsHostile Author:William Eggleston
“I would play music every day from the time I was about 4 or 5 years old. Every time I would go from one end of the house to the other, I would pass the piano and play a few notes.” YearsEndsPlayHouseNotesPiano Author:William Eggleston
“I knew it was happening, but I never paid much attention to it . . . just to the passage of time. Something new always slowly changes right in front of your eyes - it just happens.” HappensEyeAttentionFrontsHappeningsPaidSomething NewPassagesPassage Of Time Author:William Eggleston
“It was something new that was happening everywhere. You couldn't miss it. If you needed to go to the grocery you would go to the predecessors of the big supermarkets of today.” IfsBigsTodayMissingNeededHappeningsSomething NewGroceriesSupermarketsPredecessors Author:William Eggleston
“Well, probably the best way to put it might be that at some time, not just in an instant, but over some period of time I became aware of the fact that I wanted to document examples like Kroger or Piggly Wiggly in the late '50s, early '60s.” WayWellsFactsMightWantedExamplePeriodsLateBest WayInstantDocuments Author:William Eggleston