Proposal

I have recently taken an interest in William Eggleston's work and his method of taking images. I find it very interesting how he plans out every shot extensively in his head beforehand however when it comes to taking the image he makes it look effortless and smooth. He works extensively with colour because he was one of the first practitioners to use it as a professional form. I find that I struggle to use colour especially on film which he does.

Eggleston looks at the banal things in life. Some things that we may take for granted and just accept that it's normal. However the angles that he uses and the printing style make angles, lines and subject colours stand out and make it look spectacular. This will allow me to look at the practitioners that influenced him and which he has also influenced.

I am going to use his style to adapt my own and create my own specific style. This involves using similar equipment and methods. I am going to use 35mm colour film and a film camera with interchangeable lens'. This stays true to not only Egglestons methods but also other practitioners like Henri Cartier-Bresson who used his effortless methods to capture distinct moments and simplify complex scenes with his compositional skills.

I can see that the images I am aiming to produce would be shown in galleries or in a photography book. I am going to treat this body of work more as a series of art documenting the world around us that we don't necessarily see rather than a piece of documented fact that would be in a newspaper.

The materials and locations that I will need are easily accessible from online shops and the environment around me. However I would like to travel to different and new areas to capture things that I have never seen before. This will not only expand my own knowledge but might increase the effectiveness of my images.

I already know the type of photographers I am going to research and who influence me already. I have decided to briefly look at images that influence me and start shooting images as soon as possible. This will give me a chance to re-shoot if necessary and means that I will have definite images by the deadline date. After taking initial images I will spend more time on expanding my research and practise possible experimentation on location.

I have been considering displaying my work on an online gallery where all images will be accessible by my audience and I will also be able to collect their views and opinions. However if I am to consider this work as a body of work then I feel that I have to consider having them published in a book. This is something I may have to weigh up, decide on one or both.