Seeing Differently: Finding Beauty in the Ordinary Through Photography

I believe that one of the best ways to improve our photography is to study the work of the world’s great photographers.

I have been drawn to the photography of William Eggleston, largely because most of his subjects are things that we would just walk past without a second glance, and that we would certainly not photograph. He famously said, “I am at war with the obvious”, which I take to mean that he fought against photographing the most obvious scene or subject, instead capturing more mundane, ordinary, everyday things, even “ugly” things. He focused on finding beauty in these ordinary, everyday subjects.

Eggleston believes that everything is worth photographing and nothing is more or less important than anything else.

“I had this notion of what I called a democratic way of looking around, that nothing was more or less important”.

He believes that a photograph of an ordinary, simple subject such as a power line, a parking sign or an empty Coca-Cola bottle was just as valuable as a subject with obvious beauty.

These aspects of Eggleston’s work resonate with me because I am often drawn to mundane subjects. Although this can feel puzzling, I think their appeal lies in the fact that they feel personal and uncommon. They are not the scenes photographers typically queue to capture, nor are they subjects that have been photographed countless times. Instead, they encourage me to be more creative and curious, leading to a form of photography that feels more rewarding.

You might also be interested in my previous post Finding Beauty in the Ordinary: How My Photography Approach Changed

A similar theme has been explored by Greg Howard in his recent videos. You can watch one of these videos here.