John Baird
Laundry
It was Eggleston (all bow) who conceived of the idea of the democratic camera. Eggleston (praise him) who used “color as a means of discovery and expression, and as a way to highlight aspects of life hidden in plain sight.” Eggleston (in his mercy) who decided that anything—anything—that was in front of the camera was worthy of being photographed.
But it’s not always easy to believe. Sometimes you experience doubts. Sometimes you wonder if Eggleston (his name be blessed) really knew what he was talking about. Sometimes in the dark hours you ask yourself “Was he—like everybody else—just talking out his ass?”
And then you see a photograph like this. A photograph that at first glance is staggeringly simple. But the longer you look at it, the more you realize there’s a LOT to visually unpack here. There are questions to be asked—and many of the answers are there to be found if you look closely enough. You note the railroad track behind the building, you note the parking on the other side, you note the absence of a sidewalk leading to the door…and you gradually begin to assemble those observations together, giving context to this photograph. In effect, by looking at this photograph long enough you create a new photograph, a more complete and accurate photograph, a more personal photograph.” What was a simple photo of a laundry is now a complex visual representation of a residential motel, a comment on the socio-economic realities of modern life, a jaundiced view of social class in American culture. And somehow color becomes a means of discovery and expression—it becomes a way of highlighting aspects of life that are hidden in plain sight. Just as Eggleston (his light be upon you) said.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, greg fallis and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
