The 3 Photographers I chose to research are William Eggleston, Ernst Haas and Alex Prager. All three utilise colour, drama and angles to great effect.
William Eggleston
William Eggleston was born on 27 July 1939 in Memphis, Tennessee. Born and raised in the South, he developed a love of visual media. In spite of going to 3 universities he never graduated, but whilst at Vanderbilt University a friend gave Eggleston a Leica camera and photography soon became his vocation. He went on later in life to lecture at Harvard in the 1970’s. Like all photographers in the 1960’s he started mainly in black and white but he has quick to take to colour photography which was initially regarded as commercial and less artistic, but it is in colour that he made his name. His work is often characterized by its ordinary subject-matter, often combined with his powerful use of vibrant colour. This picture below is one of his early photographs catching the evening sunlight on a teenager gathering trolleys at a supermarket. This very much describes his style of documenting arguably inconsequential moments mainly in the American South in a manner that makes the colours stand out.
I also enjoy his use of angles
Ernst Haas
Ernst Haas (1921–1986) was born in Vienna and took up photography after the war. Initially he was a documentary photographer of post-war torn Europe which brought him to the attention of Life magazine, although keen to remain independent he refused a staff job with them. He moved to the USA in 1952, where he was an early adopter of Kodachrome colour film and soon become renowned for his colour photography and went on to continue to do work for Life magazine, as well as Vogue, Look and many others.
A few of his photographs below show his breadth of work with landscapes, cityscapes and close-ups. They also display his powerful, almost exaggerated use of colour and drama in his photography. He clearly found humour in the binoculars, added drama to the New York skyline with reflections, and took a wonderfully dramatic landscape shot in Monument valley, as well as bringing out the powerful colours of nature. The last shot taken in Alberquerque brilliantly mixes brightly lit strong colours with dark stormy sky and reflections on the water.
Haas also experimented expertly with motion and blur, creating more truly unique photos as can be seen below.
Alex Prager
Alex Prager was born on 1 sept 1079. She was born and works mainly out of Los Angeles, California. She again is a powerful user of colour and its vibrance. She is both a photographer and a film-maker. She often uses actors to take very staged but also dramatic photographs, and once again angles are everything!
UAL Level 2 -Andrew 