I had this notion of what I called a democratic way of looking around, that nothing was more or less important. William Eggleston More Quotes by William Eggleston More Quotes From William Eggleston Only the few times I've been to so-called treatment centers, which were a complete waste of money and useless. I didn't know what I was doing at the time, because I was always drunk when I checked in. William Eggleston drunk waste useless There's plenty of film out there, and quadrillions of cameras that use film - I don't think it makes much sense not to use it. The thing that's going out is the manufacturing of the paper. Incidentally, all these years my wife has told me that I'm color-blind. William Eggleston color years thinking I had the attitude that I would work with this present-day material and do the best I could to describe it with photography, not intending to make any particular comment about whether it was good or bad or whether I liked it or not. It was just there, and I was interested in it. That's what I still do today. William Eggleston photography attitude today I think with being blind the one thing you would have going is that you could still feel things, see your way around so to speak. And if you had had the experience of seeing at one time in your life, then you would know what it was like and be able to function. I've said this before, I think I could really photograph blind if I had to. William Eggleston able way thinking Half voluntarily, half Winston's older brother [William] would take me in, saying, "Daddy, I think you oughta do this." And I'd say, "I think you're right, maybe I do need it." Sometimes a week later I'd leave the place; sometimes I'd stick it out for a month. William Eggleston daddy brother thinking I don't like reading music. It's like learning a language. You can't read music proficiently overnight. It takes time, it's boring work. William Eggleston boring language reading Many people one meets in life somehow think they know you simply because they're hanging out at the same counter-but they really don't know a thing about you. William Eggleston hanging-out people thinking 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. William Eggleston supportive black-and-white people My friend who I went to boarding school with was interested in photography. He insisted that I buy a camera and marched me downtown. William Eggleston cameras photography school A person can attack that bottle of vodka and drink it like it's a bottle of cold water. Two of my wife's girlfriends died from drinking. They weren't big pill-takers; they were drinkers. So it can't be so simple as to slide away, like Marilyn Monroe. William Eggleston girlfriend simple drinking I have some that I have become a well-known-even infamous-client of, mostly in Memphis. But a great deal of that is legend and doesn't have anything to do with truth. William Eggleston memphis legends clients You become technically proficient whether you want to or not, the more you take pictures. William Eggleston photographer want 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. William Eggleston color museums art There are a lot of unseen projects. When a project is finished, I often physically, and in my mind, set it aside, intending something to happen with it, something that does or does not always happen. Now, a lot of these are being resurrected for the public. William Eggleston unseen mind doe Whether a photo or music, or a drawing or anything else I might do—it’s ultimately all an abstraction of my peculiar experience. William Eggleston drawing peculiar might 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. William Eggleston something-new missing today I quite frequently don't look through the camera, which is very close to being blind. William Eggleston cameras blind looks 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. William Eggleston guy sorry attitude I've also never had favorite pictures. Or subjects. I have this discipline of treating everything equally-I used to say "democratically." William Eggleston subjects discipline used 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. William Eggleston something-new eye attention
