Sontag related photo

Site Analysis

http://www.corcoran.org/exhibitions/eggleston/

This website is a study of Eggleston's work and life.  It starts out with an analysis of his photos.  This site focuses generally on his work with color photography.  The second section contains his biography.  It tells of his childhood in Tennessee and how he got into photography.

This website will be helpful to writing my upcoming paper.  I can use their analysis of his photo when I, myself, analyze his photos.  I can compare and contrast our different views as well.  His biography may also help me in determining influences of his photos.

MoRe Sources

http://www.corcoran.org/exhibitions/eggleston/

http://www.egglestontrust.com/hasselblad_weski.html


These two websites contain biographies on Eggleston's life.  Also, the second one contains criticisms on Eggleston's work

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?hid=108&sid=67756c80-a4d2-4002-8f94-ccdf80b496b0%40sessionmgr112&vid=4

Possible websites

http://www.all-art.org/history658_photography7.html
This site has what seems to be all the recorded history of photography since the camera was first invented.  It also seems to be trustworthy considering it's a .org website.

http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T062999?goto=nu&_start=1&type=article&pos=3
This site is dedicated towards art.  The section here describes nudity throughout the history of art.

Thesis Statement

Besides the shocking photo on page 95, nudity has been featured in multiple photographs and other works of art throughout history; it has also plays an important role in cultural concerns and society.

Three Theses

1. William Eggleston's photos are, in a sense, quite dark.  This darkness can be seen through the visual hints of loneliness, color scheme, and depression found throughout various photos of his.

2. When looking at photography, the three things that stand out the most, for me, are color, subject, and meaning.

3. William Eggleston can be viewed as a cultural photographer because of his ability to capture local environments, townspeople, and lifestyle.

Susan Sontag Summary

In the Susan Sontag essay, In Plato's Cave, Sontag states her views and opinions of what photography means to her.  Some of her main points include that it captures a specific moment in time and/or can be used as "a way of certifying experience" (9).  But as essay moved on, I found that she reinforced these thoughts on photography and focused more on how it can be a "naughty thing" (12).  She states that some photography is, in a sense, pornographic.  I believe her support for this becomes very strong as she compares the first pictures seen of Nazi concentration camps to the same shocking experience as when someone is exposed to their first pornographic encounter.

This was a very interesting but also, an extremely difficult read for me.  Almost every page, perhaps paragraph, contained words I have never seen in my reading career.  Words such as "nascent" and "banal" would appear.  Not knowing these words, I struggled understanding the sentences that contained them and the ideas shared from those sentences. 

Stephen Shore

The above pictures were taken by American photographer, Stephen Shore.  Stephen Shore was self taught and began taking pictures at the early age of just 14.  Like Eggleston, Shore shared the same interest in color photography.  A majority of his photos consist of roads and roadsides.