1 00:00:29,191 --> 00:00:31,356 film by Michael Almereyda 2 00:01:21,008 --> 00:01:23,720 My first instinct was to step aside and not get in the way. 3 00:01:24,364 --> 00:01:26,991 Start without further words or explanations. 4 00:01:28,355 --> 00:01:31,100 Just follow an unknown person 5 00:01:31,220 --> 00:01:33,321 wandering through the streets of a nameless city. 6 00:01:34,067 --> 00:01:38,118 Is it important to know that this is the famous photographer William Eggleston, 7 00:01:38,238 --> 00:01:41,033 accompanied by his youngest son, Winston. 8 00:01:42,069 --> 00:01:44,899 Do you need to know that they are now in Mayfield, Kentucky, 9 00:01:45,019 --> 00:01:47,670 hometown of director Gus Van Sant, 10 00:01:47,790 --> 00:01:51,196 who invited Eggleston to come and film whatever he found interesting. 11 00:01:56,337 --> 00:01:59,196 You might guess that it's mid-January now, 12 00:01:59,316 --> 00:02:03,142 but most likely you won’t know that he recently severely scalded his leg, 13 00:02:03,262 --> 00:02:06,166 because of which he was given a complex dressing in the hospital, 14 00:02:06,286 --> 00:02:08,448 and now he has a slight limp. 15 00:02:11,957 --> 00:02:14,553 Maybe it's worth just being close to him, 16 00:02:14,673 --> 00:02:17,248 watch him check out of the motel, 17 00:02:17,368 --> 00:02:20,163 how he circles the same streets in the light of day, 18 00:02:20,283 --> 00:02:22,715 without explaining anything, without interfering with anything. 19 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:27,366 When I showed people the footage, 20 00:02:27,486 --> 00:02:29,917 I often had to explain this to them, 21 00:02:30,037 --> 00:02:32,957 like the voice-over whisper of the host of a program about lemurs from Madagascar. 22 00:02:36,096 --> 00:02:38,757 But maybe it’s better to be silent, patient and observant? 23 00:02:39,066 --> 00:02:40,524 As a photographer. 24 00:02:41,867 --> 00:02:44,277 It might be better to recognize as a fundamental fact: 25 00:02:44,397 --> 00:02:47,634 photography often shows and describes much more 26 00:02:47,754 --> 00:02:49,735 than she can explain. 27 00:02:54,712 --> 00:02:56,950 WILLIAM EGGLESTON IN THE REAL WORLD 28 00:04:29,775 --> 00:04:31,172 - Excellent light! 29 00:06:16,447 --> 00:06:17,652 — Elastic plaster... 30 00:06:22,084 --> 00:06:23,546 Are they any different? 31 00:06:26,197 --> 00:06:28,237 - This one sticks only to itself, not to the skin. 32 00:06:28,357 --> 00:06:29,875 And a different brand... 33 00:06:33,785 --> 00:06:35,552 I need vitamin B50. 34 00:06:36,179 --> 00:06:37,978 -Are you filming? 35 00:06:38,636 --> 00:06:40,532 - Yes, we are photographers... 36 00:06:41,787 --> 00:06:43,907 - It is prohibited to take pictures in our store. 37 00:07:26,837 --> 00:07:29,808 - Dad, are you hungry, or not very hungry?.. 38 00:07:30,917 --> 00:07:32,588 Will you eat anything? 39 00:07:36,097 --> 00:07:38,646 — We have beans, rice... 40 00:07:45,363 --> 00:07:47,789 — First, a glass of orange juice. 41 00:07:49,427 --> 00:07:51,034 — It's in the refrigerator. 42 00:08:33,214 --> 00:08:35,832 — I’ll take another look while we put the camera on a tripod... 43 00:08:42,596 --> 00:08:44,492 Your piñata is beautiful. 44 00:08:46,419 --> 00:08:48,588 — That girl over there, in a cowboy suit, 45 00:08:48,708 --> 00:08:50,885 I couldn't win the prize... 46 00:09:01,750 --> 00:09:03,164 Should I take it off? 47 00:09:03,284 --> 00:09:05,188 - No, she’s quite out of place there. 48 00:09:10,300 --> 00:09:13,293 — It’s broken at the bottom, so we put it there... 49 00:09:15,463 --> 00:09:17,246 Everything is as it should be here. 50 00:10:00,537 --> 00:10:03,188 -Where are you walking today, on the street?.. 51 00:10:05,436 --> 00:10:06,946 - Everywhere around the area. 52 00:10:11,517 --> 00:10:13,637 We came from Memphis. 53 00:10:13,894 --> 00:10:17,099 - Is it true? Let me touch you. 54 00:10:21,011 --> 00:10:24,368 Recognition in the world of photography came to Eggleston in 1976. 55 00:10:24,488 --> 00:10:28,400 after the first personal exhibition of his color photographs 56 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:31,765 at the Central Museum of Modern Art. He was 37 years old. 57 00:10:33,064 --> 00:10:35,705 In the accompanying book "William Eggleston's Guide" 58 00:10:35,825 --> 00:10:38,598 48 out of 75 submitted works were published, 59 00:10:38,718 --> 00:10:41,774 as well as an article by exhibition curator John Szarkowski. 60 00:10:42,519 --> 00:10:45,732 This portrait of Eggleston was on the last page of the Guide. 61 00:10:46,146 --> 00:10:48,403 A signature would suit him quite well: 62 00:10:48,523 --> 00:10:52,154 "William Eggleston is not just another suffering artist." 63 00:10:53,662 --> 00:10:56,570 This is Bill with Sharkovsky at the opening of the exhibition. 64 00:10:57,228 --> 00:10:59,831 Here he is with his cousin, photographer Maude Schuyler. 65 00:10:59,951 --> 00:11:02,135 Lights a cigarette for his mother. 66 00:11:02,255 --> 00:11:05,051 Bill's son, William Jr., is nine here. 67 00:11:06,101 --> 00:11:08,334 They came from Memphis, 68 00:11:08,454 --> 00:11:11,097 where Eggleston lived and continues to live with his wife Rose, 69 00:11:11,217 --> 00:11:13,542 which managed not to be included in any of the photographs from the opening. 70 00:11:26,508 --> 00:11:29,814 The photographs you are looking at were not at the exhibition in 1976, 71 00:11:29,934 --> 00:11:32,175 they are part of a long series of works, 72 00:11:32,295 --> 00:11:34,040 completed by Eggleston in 1974. 73 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:37,370 His "Los Alamos Project", about 2200 photographs, 74 00:11:37,490 --> 00:11:40,663 a selection of which were presented to the public 75 00:11:40,783 --> 00:11:42,964 for the first time only in 2003. 76 00:11:45,732 --> 00:11:48,109 Selecting photographs for Eggleston's debut exhibition, 77 00:11:48,229 --> 00:11:50,952 Sharkovsky worked with a less extensive series of photographs. 78 00:11:53,250 --> 00:11:56,379 The exhibition was received coolly and, in part, downright hostile. 79 00:11:58,248 --> 00:12:02,208 As the New York Times critic said, "These photographs are perfectly boring." 80 00:12:03,269 --> 00:12:06,594 “A pretentious, glossy dud,” summed up the Village Voice. 81 00:12:08,548 --> 00:12:10,452 Ansel Adams wrote a letter to Sharkovsky, 82 00:12:10,572 --> 00:12:14,041 in which he expressed his deep regret that this junk was hanging in the museum. 83 00:12:14,458 --> 00:12:17,616 A few months later, one commentator summed it up: 84 00:12:17,736 --> 00:12:20,065 having said that it was the most controversial exhibition of the year. 85 00:13:38,214 --> 00:13:40,650 “I declared war on the obvious,” 86 00:13:41,641 --> 00:13:44,131 Eggleston said so in one of his rare creative manifestos. 87 00:13:44,251 --> 00:13:46,535 This phrase may be inscribed on his banner, 88 00:13:46,655 --> 00:13:50,214 as if denying the fact that he films the most obvious and everyday things. 89 00:13:52,953 --> 00:13:55,250 Boring, random, fleeting things, 90 00:13:55,370 --> 00:13:57,997 those he meets on the side of country roads, 91 00:13:58,117 --> 00:14:01,483 in the dead ends of residential areas, on dressers, on beds... 92 00:14:03,186 --> 00:14:06,142 Signs, toys and just trash, captured with the dignity of icons. 93 00:14:07,371 --> 00:14:09,604 Mysteries hiding right under our noses. 94 00:14:11,165 --> 00:14:13,917 Everything is so familiar, but at the same time so strange. 95 00:14:16,765 --> 00:14:19,111 Recognizable, but unknowable. 96 00:18:17,212 --> 00:18:19,526 In a sense, pictures from the "Guide" 97 00:18:19,646 --> 00:18:22,192 can be called the most complete and thoughtful of all the series, 98 00:18:22,312 --> 00:18:23,831 ever filmed by Eggleston. 99 00:18:23,951 --> 00:18:26,067 Here he uses more muted colors, 100 00:18:26,187 --> 00:18:28,509 and the pictures are more complete and self-sufficient. 101 00:18:29,932 --> 00:18:32,053 Perhaps the differences are explained by 102 00:18:32,173 --> 00:18:35,277 that he took these photographs in his native places, 103 00:18:35,397 --> 00:18:37,576 surrounding Tallahatchie County, Mississippi 104 00:18:37,696 --> 00:18:41,222 where two generations of his family owned cotton plantations. 105 00:18:42,663 --> 00:18:44,976 This was his place, as Sharkovsky said, 106 00:18:45,096 --> 00:18:48,166 both geographically and emotionally, 107 00:18:48,286 --> 00:18:49,819 the place where he grew up. 108 00:18:50,311 --> 00:18:52,480 When I first saw these photographs, 109 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:55,957 I thought that these pictures could well have been taken by a domestic dog: 110 00:18:56,077 --> 00:18:58,478 inconvenient, often very low shooting point, 111 00:18:58,598 --> 00:19:01,574 people captured with genuine spontaneity. 112 00:19:02,847 --> 00:19:06,315 There is no other way to explain this strange mixture of confrontation and submission, 113 00:19:06,435 --> 00:19:10,394 a state of relaxed but alert contemplation, 114 00:19:10,514 --> 00:19:12,486 free from judgment. 115 00:19:12,827 --> 00:19:16,036 And of course, with its cover made of pimply artificial leather, 116 00:19:16,156 --> 00:19:20,045 The Guide only reinforced the impression that all its contents were 117 00:19:20,165 --> 00:19:22,614 typical pictures from a family photo album, 118 00:19:22,734 --> 00:19:25,547 “photos”, wonderful snapshots of everyday life. 119 00:19:27,332 --> 00:19:30,425 Sharkovsky's article, printed on playful green paper, 120 00:19:30,545 --> 00:19:33,501 emphasized Eggleston's mastery of color, 121 00:19:33,621 --> 00:19:35,768 his use of color transfer printing techniques, 122 00:19:35,888 --> 00:19:38,177 widespread mainly in advertising print, 123 00:19:38,297 --> 00:19:41,005 which gave his works extraordinary color density 124 00:19:41,125 --> 00:19:43,270 and additional visual power. 125 00:19:44,319 --> 00:19:45,865 Sharkovsky insisted 126 00:19:45,985 --> 00:19:48,266 that the fundamental basis of Eggleston's work 127 00:19:48,386 --> 00:19:50,747 is the recognition of the fact that the world is colored. 128 00:19:51,133 --> 00:19:53,860 The color blue is integral to the sky. 129 00:19:56,014 --> 00:19:59,612 Be that as it may, Eggleston's color is in the service of a certain aesthetic, 130 00:19:59,732 --> 00:20:02,825 related to Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, 131 00:20:02,945 --> 00:20:06,009 and taking its origins, directly or indirectly, in the work of Walker Evans. 132 00:20:07,707 --> 00:20:11,032 Like his predecessors, Eggleston focuses on everyday things, 133 00:20:11,152 --> 00:20:13,586 unsightly, wretched architecture, unknown people, 134 00:20:13,706 --> 00:20:18,050 as if illuminating them with his attention and as if elevating them above everyday life. 135 00:20:18,170 --> 00:20:18,860 136 00:20:21,421 --> 00:20:24,119 Another indication of the depth of his approach is that 137 00:20:24,239 --> 00:20:26,762 that part of an object, a randomly noticed fragment, 138 00:20:26,882 --> 00:20:29,452 may have more meaning than the whole object, 139 00:20:29,572 --> 00:20:33,253 capturing not only its outer shell, but also its deep aspects. 140 00:20:34,635 --> 00:20:36,740 An expanded version of the truth. 141 00:20:37,148 --> 00:20:39,493 Guided by these principles, 142 00:20:39,613 --> 00:20:42,395 Eggleston immortalizes everything, picture by picture, 143 00:20:42,515 --> 00:20:46,104 what can be considered significant, monumental, unique. 144 00:20:49,045 --> 00:20:52,098 These simple photographs are endowed with inner peace and conciseness, 145 00:20:52,218 --> 00:20:54,840 often you can see a romantic beginning in them, 146 00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:58,409 and even more often - internal tension, imperceptible at first glance, 147 00:20:58,529 --> 00:21:00,451 which, according to many, 148 00:21:00,571 --> 00:21:03,060 makes them look like stills from David Lynch films. 149 00:21:03,384 --> 00:21:05,200 And what is most important - 150 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:08,304 a sense of belonging adjacent to anxiety, 151 00:21:08,424 --> 00:21:10,202 emotional instability, 152 00:21:10,322 --> 00:21:13,677 balancing between love and fear. 153 00:21:14,819 --> 00:21:16,972 on the road to Memphis 154 00:21:34,373 --> 00:21:36,590 “Don’t drive too far, you’ll puncture the tire.” 155 00:23:03,166 --> 00:23:04,981 — Great light here, huh? 156 00:25:16,882 --> 00:25:18,665 in Memphis 157 00:25:19,886 --> 00:25:21,829 — I don’t know what’s on this disk... 158 00:25:28,699 --> 00:25:30,434 A wonderful tool. 159 00:25:30,554 --> 00:25:32,546 He can make beautiful sounds. 160 00:26:06,965 --> 00:26:08,748 There's a lot of nonsense here. 161 00:26:11,624 --> 00:26:13,712 This is called "cosmic rain". 162 00:27:04,012 --> 00:27:05,795 This is Robert Burns. 163 00:28:09,363 --> 00:28:11,933 A recent exhibition of Eggleston's black and white photographs, 164 00:28:12,053 --> 00:28:14,270 filmed in the late 1960s and early 70s, 165 00:28:14,390 --> 00:28:16,990 showed that even then he was attracted to the same topics, 166 00:28:17,110 --> 00:28:19,759 which will be characteristic of his color works. 167 00:28:19,879 --> 00:28:23,025 His fascination with both emptiness and chaos is visible, 168 00:28:23,145 --> 00:28:26,824 study of the American way of life and habitat, 169 00:28:26,944 --> 00:28:30,210 but without catchiness, irony and attractive storytelling, 170 00:28:30,330 --> 00:28:33,712 inherent in the similar works of Garry Winogrand and Diane Arbus. 171 00:28:38,075 --> 00:28:41,639 By turning to color, Eggleston took things to a new level. 172 00:28:43,015 --> 00:28:46,788 The dispassionate authenticity of his photographs was filled with warmth. 173 00:28:49,150 --> 00:28:51,505 They sparkled with new colors. 174 00:28:52,485 --> 00:28:56,485 His wife remembers how he went out every day on a “photo hunt” in the late 1960s. 175 00:28:56,605 --> 00:29:00,505 and returned from the developing laboratory with a box of freshly shot slides, 176 00:29:00,625 --> 00:29:04,030 which he then projected onto the empty walls of their new home. 177 00:29:04,150 --> 00:29:07,660 According to her, the pictures literally jumped out of the walls. 178 00:29:08,451 --> 00:29:11,516 This is Rose Eggleston in 1971. 179 00:29:12,885 --> 00:29:15,343 Their children, Bill Jr. 180 00:29:15,463 --> 00:29:17,994 Endra and Winston, youngest son, 181 00:29:18,114 --> 00:29:20,600 and again Winston, still living in Memphis, 182 00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:23,989 now a photographer and director of the Eggleston Arts Foundation. 183 00:29:28,643 --> 00:29:30,490 - I know what we need. 184 00:29:30,924 --> 00:29:32,049 - What? 185 00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:40,664 Maybe a coat? 186 00:29:43,299 --> 00:29:44,777 -Who needs this coat? 187 00:29:44,897 --> 00:29:46,158 - Well, okay... 188 00:30:00,112 --> 00:30:02,071 — Is this my remote control or your remote control? 189 00:30:02,191 --> 00:30:03,557 - And this? 190 00:30:03,677 --> 00:30:04,633 - It'll do. 191 00:30:05,388 --> 00:30:06,786 -Have you been here before? 192 00:30:06,906 --> 00:30:08,411 - Yes. - I thought so. 193 00:30:08,877 --> 00:30:11,110 I'm Bill Eggleston, and you? — Kevin. 194 00:30:11,230 --> 00:30:12,861 - Oh, of course... 195 00:30:13,708 --> 00:30:16,455 We go right to the end... to Wareing. 196 00:30:17,093 --> 00:30:20,017 After the traffic light there will be a liquor store, stop there. 197 00:30:21,945 --> 00:30:23,134 We have business there. 198 00:30:25,962 --> 00:30:27,520 And then we'll move on. 199 00:30:31,054 --> 00:30:32,805 visiting Lee Haizlip 200 00:30:37,921 --> 00:30:40,491 - For example, elephants... Elephants... 201 00:30:44,848 --> 00:30:47,578 -Have you ever seen a naked elephant? 202 00:30:48,390 --> 00:30:51,255 - And it was so... So... 203 00:30:57,518 --> 00:31:00,410 I said I won’t pay until I ride on my head... 204 00:31:04,555 --> 00:31:07,076 I liked it. It was great. 205 00:31:20,177 --> 00:31:23,068 I probably have ten years left to live... 206 00:31:23,911 --> 00:31:26,000 And I can spend everything I have saved up. 207 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:27,878 There's nothing more to do... 208 00:31:29,552 --> 00:31:31,993 I could go back to Asia. 209 00:31:49,173 --> 00:31:51,518 I... well... have some money. 210 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:53,526 Very little. 211 00:31:55,599 --> 00:31:58,468 And I called an acquaintance, a classmate... 212 00:32:04,602 --> 00:32:06,482 Like, best friend and all that... 213 00:32:12,072 --> 00:32:14,465 And she said that I would give him all the money. 214 00:32:15,718 --> 00:32:17,742 And he tells me, talk to your brother... 215 00:32:17,862 --> 00:32:20,224 I called my brother, and you know what he said? 216 00:32:20,344 --> 00:32:24,057 “If you get cancer, how will I pay for treatment?” 217 00:32:30,854 --> 00:32:33,985 - Why would you have cancer? Where do such fears come from? 218 00:32:34,796 --> 00:32:36,980 “My mother died from it.” 219 00:32:37,461 --> 00:32:40,272 And he says, I won’t have anything to pay for treatment. 220 00:32:42,072 --> 00:32:44,192 - Why will he have to pay? 221 00:32:44,312 --> 00:32:46,674 Maybe you will go to the desert and die there yourself? 222 00:32:47,671 --> 00:32:49,920 - Yes, I said that I’d rather shoot myself... 223 00:32:51,504 --> 00:32:54,255 I saw my mother die of cancer 224 00:32:54,375 --> 00:32:56,632 and believe me, it's not worth it. 225 00:32:57,548 --> 00:33:00,006 Better to just blow your fucking brains out... 226 00:33:02,199 --> 00:33:04,978 Right away they tell you that you have cancer and you will die. 227 00:33:06,868 --> 00:33:08,699 That's how it will be. 228 00:33:15,961 --> 00:33:18,933 Twelve months and a lot of money for all this chemotherapy... 229 00:33:21,969 --> 00:33:24,283 ...when you still know that you'll fucking die... 230 00:33:27,705 --> 00:33:29,569 No, not my option. 231 00:33:39,341 --> 00:33:43,693 Why does he care so much about me? I'm not even part of his family. 232 00:33:45,932 --> 00:33:47,377 - Once upon a time there was... 233 00:33:47,497 --> 00:33:49,546 - Once there was, but no longer. 234 00:33:50,189 --> 00:33:51,442 Would you like a lollipop? 235 00:33:54,277 --> 00:33:56,992 - I can’t advise you anything here. 236 00:33:57,112 --> 00:33:58,919 - Yes, and no one can. 237 00:34:03,106 --> 00:34:05,460 Life is a funny thing, right? 238 00:34:07,928 --> 00:34:10,981 It's funny for you, but it blows my brains out... 239 00:34:13,856 --> 00:34:15,674 - There is no need to make me sad. 240 00:34:23,227 --> 00:34:26,055 - He thinks I'll get sick... - Your brother is just a shit! 241 00:34:29,546 --> 00:34:32,485 - And I love him! He's very smart. 242 00:34:42,479 --> 00:34:45,033 “He doesn’t understand a damn thing about life!” 243 00:34:45,949 --> 00:34:48,624 “I should have died instead of my mother.” 244 00:34:48,744 --> 00:34:52,045 It wasn't her, it was I who had to get liver cancer. 245 00:34:54,595 --> 00:34:57,567 - Well, you’re not sick, and you won’t be sick. I won't give it to you. 246 00:34:57,985 --> 00:35:00,973 - Yes, but why? Because she got sick instead of me! 247 00:35:01,856 --> 00:35:03,173 - This is very stupid. 248 00:35:03,293 --> 00:35:04,619 - But it's true. 249 00:35:05,012 --> 00:35:06,410 - This is for you. 250 00:35:10,564 --> 00:35:12,572 Whether you like it or not. 251 00:35:15,899 --> 00:35:18,469 - I don't like it, Bill. - Then give it back. 252 00:35:19,377 --> 00:35:21,802 “Bill Eggleston drew this about me.” 253 00:35:22,066 --> 00:35:25,167 - Give it back, please. This is not about you at all. 254 00:35:26,741 --> 00:35:28,861 - It's about your feelings. 255 00:35:28,981 --> 00:35:30,612 - Will you return it or not? 256 00:35:30,732 --> 00:35:32,251 - Yes. - Thank you. 257 00:35:37,306 --> 00:35:39,025 I like. 258 00:35:54,540 --> 00:35:56,239 later in the evening 259 00:36:12,462 --> 00:36:14,888 - In my opinion, these are my best photographs. 260 00:36:20,135 --> 00:36:22,721 - The best work is the one you will never do. 261 00:36:24,353 --> 00:36:26,554 The last one always seems to be the best, but... 262 00:36:30,474 --> 00:36:32,317 - Yes, you’re right here. 263 00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:36,042 You didn't see what happened yesterday and today. 264 00:36:39,865 --> 00:36:41,932 It was the best thing I could imagine. 265 00:36:47,290 --> 00:36:50,342 To tell you the truth, I don't care what anyone says. 266 00:36:51,012 --> 00:36:53,534 They simply exist - and nothing more. 267 00:36:55,092 --> 00:36:56,779 And I understand what I'm talking about. 268 00:37:03,492 --> 00:37:04,857 I'm not wrong. 269 00:37:08,005 --> 00:37:10,078 I said I'm never wrong. 270 00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:12,438 That's it. 271 00:37:12,759 --> 00:37:14,542 And this is really my opinion about everything, 272 00:37:14,662 --> 00:37:17,561 what has been happening in the last few days. 273 00:37:21,403 --> 00:37:23,106 On this last trip. 274 00:37:26,776 --> 00:37:28,190 And I don't care... 275 00:37:30,292 --> 00:37:32,204 Although no, don’t care... 276 00:37:39,188 --> 00:37:41,501 The day before yesterday I watched a film with Peter Sellers. 277 00:37:56,117 --> 00:37:58,575 I first met Bill at a friends place, 278 00:37:58,695 --> 00:38:00,567 photographing a wedding in Memphis. 279 00:38:00,970 --> 00:38:04,488 Caldecote Chubb, whose portrait Eggleston took in Kenya in 1978, 280 00:38:04,608 --> 00:38:08,490 asked me to go with him to the Holiday Inn in Oxford, Mississippi, 281 00:38:08,610 --> 00:38:11,124 where Bill was holed up after a serious fight 282 00:38:11,244 --> 00:38:13,437 with a woman named Lucia Birch. 283 00:38:16,613 --> 00:38:19,520 We found Bill lying in bed in his room, 284 00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:23,042 fully dressed, wearing a buttoned white shirt. 285 00:38:25,594 --> 00:38:27,810 All he had with him was a cigar box, 286 00:38:27,930 --> 00:38:29,448 full of colored pencils. 287 00:38:34,953 --> 00:38:37,466 Back in Memphis we stopped at the dry cleaners 288 00:38:37,586 --> 00:38:41,499 where Bill's tuxedo was taken, as well as a bunch of things packed in cellophane, 289 00:38:41,619 --> 00:38:43,925 belonging to Rosa, their children and Lucia. 290 00:38:44,045 --> 00:38:46,985 The women knew each other and, they say, even liked each other. 291 00:38:48,559 --> 00:38:51,563 But Bill couldn't figure out where whose things were, 292 00:38:51,683 --> 00:38:54,519 and this situation seemed to me a suitable metaphor, 293 00:38:54,639 --> 00:38:56,961 describing his way of life. 294 00:39:13,238 --> 00:39:14,507 William Eggleston's fourth symphony 295 00:39:15,245 --> 00:39:16,980 I want to deliver it to you. 296 00:39:21,972 --> 00:39:22,936 Here. 297 00:39:28,878 --> 00:39:30,300 Composed in Minneapolis. 298 00:39:35,351 --> 00:39:36,491 A very important thing for me. 299 00:39:41,103 --> 00:39:44,524 Actually, I played it for a lady. 300 00:39:47,339 --> 00:39:48,913 Gave her the recording. 301 00:39:51,612 --> 00:39:53,990 The next day she said 302 00:40:04,617 --> 00:40:07,236 that the music seems very dull to her. 303 00:40:07,621 --> 00:40:10,384 And in my opinion, this is the most sublime thing 304 00:40:10,504 --> 00:40:12,622 from everything I've heard in a long time, 305 00:40:12,742 --> 00:40:15,128 not at all sad. 306 00:40:15,980 --> 00:40:18,791 It seemed to me like that even then, damn it... 307 00:40:19,723 --> 00:40:21,870 Maybe that's why I like her so much. 308 00:40:57,575 --> 00:40:59,455 Nothing sad, right? 309 00:42:10,462 --> 00:42:13,216 This is an excerpt from the film "Lost in Canton" 310 00:42:13,336 --> 00:42:16,076 filmed by Eggleston in Memphis and New Orleans. 311 00:42:16,196 --> 00:42:19,228 which covers two years of his life in the early 1970s. 312 00:42:24,823 --> 00:42:27,558 There are also separate lyrical digressions in it, like this, 313 00:42:27,678 --> 00:42:29,594 featuring Winston and Andra. 314 00:42:31,239 --> 00:42:32,765 But the main part is 315 00:42:32,885 --> 00:42:35,785 shots in which the calm and restraint of his photographs 316 00:42:35,905 --> 00:42:38,481 are replaced by something much more explosive. 317 00:42:43,289 --> 00:42:47,005 Shooting handheld, constantly in motion, aggressive close-up. 318 00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:51,658 Eggleston used one of the first Sony Portapack cameras. 319 00:42:53,162 --> 00:42:55,957 - I thought it was a camera!.. 320 00:43:01,544 --> 00:43:04,147 He replaced the lens and rebuilt the optics. 321 00:43:07,426 --> 00:43:08,807 - Bill! 322 00:43:11,979 --> 00:43:13,100 - What's going on?.. 323 00:43:14,064 --> 00:43:16,505 - We're having fun! We're having great fun!.. 324 00:43:21,485 --> 00:43:24,483 He belonged in various strata of society. 325 00:43:25,790 --> 00:43:28,087 But basically, his social circle 326 00:43:28,207 --> 00:43:30,473 made up the local artistic bohemia. 327 00:43:33,584 --> 00:43:36,591 The chaos he captured with close proximity 328 00:43:36,711 --> 00:43:40,012 excites, and at the same time leaves a depressing impression. 329 00:43:43,478 --> 00:43:45,700 Sometimes Eggleston himself appears in the film, 330 00:43:45,820 --> 00:43:47,880 but mostly he hides behind the camera, 331 00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:50,209 aimed at the faces of everyone around him. 332 00:43:56,115 --> 00:43:58,460 “You're a cocky asshole, Eggleston.” 333 00:43:59,777 --> 00:44:01,962 It would be better not to look at yourself in the mirror. 334 00:44:03,432 --> 00:44:05,087 I think you yourself understand 335 00:44:05,207 --> 00:44:07,496 that not everyone likes to be filmed. 336 00:44:11,850 --> 00:44:14,810 - Bill, you're in trouble, I was expecting you for dinner... 337 00:44:14,930 --> 00:44:16,515 How much did you drink? 338 00:44:17,903 --> 00:44:20,017 Why don't you care about anything, Bill?.. 339 00:44:22,327 --> 00:44:23,501 - What can I do? 340 00:44:23,621 --> 00:44:26,994 - I'll tell you what, sit down and stop acting like a fool. 341 00:44:28,585 --> 00:44:30,437 Sit down and put that thing away! 342 00:44:30,557 --> 00:44:32,519 I want to talk to you as a person, if possible... 343 00:44:37,994 --> 00:44:41,062 I always tried to somehow rein in Bill... 344 00:44:41,182 --> 00:44:44,252 It seemed like he had only games on his mind... 345 00:44:45,476 --> 00:44:48,678 But then I realized that he is very purposeful... 346 00:44:49,736 --> 00:44:51,920 I had to accept him for who he is. 347 00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:54,202 And he's a real treasure, isn't he? 348 00:44:59,351 --> 00:45:01,726 A real treasure... 349 00:45:10,639 --> 00:45:13,619 This is unprecedented work, especially in the context of the times, 350 00:45:13,739 --> 00:45:15,619 in which it was filmed. 351 00:45:23,387 --> 00:45:25,765 There's raw, unbridled energy in him, 352 00:45:25,885 --> 00:45:28,496 which is inaccessible to many modern video artists. 353 00:45:39,946 --> 00:45:42,443 But Eggleston shelved the project in 1974. 354 00:45:42,563 --> 00:45:45,929 not daring to compromise on forty hours of footage, 355 00:45:46,049 --> 00:45:48,095 and, with the exception of a few experiments, 356 00:45:48,215 --> 00:45:50,247 I didn't work with video anymore. 357 00:45:50,367 --> 00:45:53,932 It's as if Lewis and Clark, the famous American pioneers, 358 00:45:54,052 --> 00:45:57,530 abandoned their expedition after a couple of months and went home. 359 00:45:57,650 --> 00:45:59,814 For the one who declared "war on the obvious" 360 00:45:59,934 --> 00:46:02,211 this project may have been too awkward. 361 00:46:03,640 --> 00:46:05,551 Los Angeles 362 00:48:55,964 --> 00:48:57,490 J. Paul Getty Foundation Museum of Art 363 00:50:31,038 --> 00:50:33,062 — I really like the selection. 364 00:51:42,938 --> 00:51:44,962 - This is what we took. 365 00:51:45,219 --> 00:51:48,303 Basically everything here is with a neutral background, as you can see... 366 00:51:54,401 --> 00:51:55,813 - There's nothing wrong with this one... 367 00:51:56,838 --> 00:51:58,774 Just need a little tweaking here... 368 00:52:29,445 --> 00:52:32,762 Article by John Szarkowski, written thirty years ago, 369 00:52:32,882 --> 00:52:35,931 remains the most important text about this photographer. 370 00:52:36,155 --> 00:52:39,084 It is ponderous, abstruse and full of theorizing. 371 00:52:39,577 --> 00:52:42,493 It contains references to Degas, James Agee, Jane Austen, 372 00:52:42,613 --> 00:52:45,194 Wordsworth, Bruce Talkington. 373 00:52:47,220 --> 00:52:49,276 — These are the ones I would use again. 374 00:52:57,596 --> 00:53:00,974 However, the most important thing in this article is a simple statement: 375 00:53:03,360 --> 00:53:07,004 “There are now more photographs in the world than bricks,” says Sharkovsky, 376 00:53:07,124 --> 00:53:09,694 "and what's most amazing is that they are all different." 377 00:53:15,034 --> 00:53:16,999 In a certain sense, 378 00:53:17,119 --> 00:53:20,583 this phrase can be regarded as one of those glances into infinity, 379 00:53:20,703 --> 00:53:23,805 which help a person feel proud of his achievements, 380 00:53:23,925 --> 00:53:25,591 and realize their futility, 381 00:53:25,711 --> 00:53:28,803 as it happens when you walk alone at night along the seashore. 382 00:53:32,026 --> 00:53:34,430 According to his own rough estimates, 383 00:53:34,550 --> 00:53:36,972 to date, Eggleston has taken 150,000 photographs. 384 00:53:41,039 --> 00:53:42,694 Of course, like bricks, 385 00:53:42,814 --> 00:53:45,023 different photographs form different designs. 386 00:53:48,798 --> 00:53:51,271 A big part of Eggleston's gift is... 387 00:53:51,391 --> 00:53:53,005 that looking at his pictures 388 00:53:53,125 --> 00:53:55,771 it is impossible not to be infected by his constant feeling 389 00:53:55,891 --> 00:53:58,198 visual richness of the surrounding world. 390 00:53:59,498 --> 00:54:02,483 A close acquaintance with his work may change your vision, 391 00:54:02,603 --> 00:54:04,992 the way you perceive visual information. 392 00:54:05,991 --> 00:54:07,389 They seem to say 393 00:54:07,509 --> 00:54:10,417 “Everything around is worthy of being seen and photographed.” 394 00:54:12,003 --> 00:54:14,826 Eggleston's simple statement of facts outgrows 395 00:54:14,946 --> 00:54:18,153 into a disarmingly detailed portrait of Western civilization 396 00:54:18,273 --> 00:54:20,980 at the end of the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st. 397 00:54:22,144 --> 00:54:25,333 A civilization doomed, and at the same time, full of hope, 398 00:54:25,453 --> 00:54:27,959 fading, and at the same time developing. 399 00:54:29,276 --> 00:54:32,079 Eggleston himself never expresses these thoughts, 400 00:54:32,199 --> 00:54:35,372 but the titles he gives to his books speak for him. 401 00:54:36,254 --> 00:54:37,689 "Before the elections" 402 00:54:38,265 --> 00:54:39,673 "Forest of Democrats" 403 00:54:40,535 --> 00:54:42,050 "Morality and Vision" 404 00:54:43,941 --> 00:54:46,581 Despite this, and maybe just because of this, 405 00:54:46,701 --> 00:54:49,274 people most often have no place in his photographs. 406 00:54:49,674 --> 00:54:51,972 The democracy of things reigns here. 407 00:54:52,092 --> 00:54:54,526 Factory and natural origin, 408 00:54:54,646 --> 00:54:56,843 things for sale, things without much value, 409 00:54:56,963 --> 00:54:58,932 and things that cannot be assessed. 410 00:54:59,770 --> 00:55:02,991 It may seem that the real subject of Eggleston's photographs is 411 00:55:03,111 --> 00:55:05,644 is the very nature of human perception. 412 00:55:22,263 --> 00:55:23,982 Lecture William Eggleston 413 00:55:27,019 --> 00:55:29,155 Eggleston is completely self-taught, 414 00:55:29,275 --> 00:55:32,738 however, as Sharkovsky wrote, Cartier-Bresson's book "The Decisive Moment" 415 00:55:32,858 --> 00:55:35,736 had a decisive influence on Eggleston in his youth. 416 00:55:37,642 --> 00:55:40,611 Few people know that Eggleston spent almost his entire childhood 417 00:55:40,731 --> 00:55:42,955 he was raised by his maternal grandfather, 418 00:55:43,075 --> 00:55:44,598 Joseph Albert May. 419 00:55:44,856 --> 00:55:47,843 A district judge who was seriously interested in photography. 420 00:55:56,898 --> 00:55:59,728 Young Bill appears in some of Judge May's photographs, 421 00:55:59,848 --> 00:56:02,971 and Eggleston developed many of these plates himself, much later. 422 00:56:09,366 --> 00:56:12,211 The boy played in his grandfather's dark room, 423 00:56:12,331 --> 00:56:15,311 and I received my first Brownie camera as a gift for 10 years, 424 00:56:15,431 --> 00:56:17,999 and that same year Judge May died of a heart attack. 425 00:56:18,952 --> 00:56:21,630 Bill was in the next room when this happened. 426 00:56:21,750 --> 00:56:24,125 "My whole world collapsed," he says. 427 00:56:26,218 --> 00:56:28,614 It should be interesting to follow 428 00:56:28,734 --> 00:56:31,428 how many artists in the world owe their appearance to that moment, 429 00:56:31,548 --> 00:56:33,154 when their world collapses. 430 00:56:37,671 --> 00:56:40,422 Without delving into the search for the “rose bud” in his biography, 431 00:56:40,542 --> 00:56:43,623 It's easy to see that photography for Eggleston is 432 00:56:43,743 --> 00:56:46,721 subconscious process of psychological recovery. 433 00:56:47,271 --> 00:56:49,792 The ghosts that inhabit the space of his photographs 434 00:56:49,912 --> 00:56:51,895 these are the ghosts of his spiritual experiences. 435 00:56:52,522 --> 00:56:54,608 This is very similar to his work 436 00:56:54,728 --> 00:56:57,065 with the sublimely naive perception of a child. 437 00:57:42,727 --> 00:57:45,222 - It is my pleasure to introduce you to Bill. 438 00:57:45,342 --> 00:57:47,589 and with him Bruce Wegner, 439 00:57:47,709 --> 00:57:50,885 writer and filmmaker, often collaborating with him. 440 00:57:54,721 --> 00:57:57,797 She and Bill worked on several projects together, 441 00:57:57,917 --> 00:58:00,005 and intend to continue. 442 00:58:03,197 --> 00:58:05,732 I'm very excited and don't know what to say 443 00:58:05,852 --> 00:58:08,342 standing here now with my friend, 444 00:58:10,071 --> 00:58:12,341 Bill Eggleston. 445 00:58:13,974 --> 00:58:17,154 We will show slides and discuss them, 446 00:58:17,274 --> 00:58:20,152 Bill is usually extremely laconic, 447 00:58:20,807 --> 00:58:23,998 so I will try to match his laconicism. 448 00:58:29,202 --> 00:58:31,996 Bill, you chose these pictures yourself, right? 449 00:58:33,858 --> 00:58:34,465 - Yes. 450 00:58:34,705 --> 00:58:36,358 We need to turn off the light. 451 00:58:36,719 --> 00:58:38,848 — Can I dim the lights? 452 00:58:40,806 --> 00:58:43,631 Bill, when we worked together, it struck me 453 00:58:44,577 --> 00:58:48,793 that you rarely take more than one or two pictures 454 00:58:48,913 --> 00:58:51,764 what attracts your attention. 455 00:58:52,469 --> 00:58:55,147 Could you tell us about your creative process? 456 00:58:55,267 --> 00:58:58,497 why do you think it is important to tirelessly move on, 457 00:58:58,617 --> 00:59:01,238 without focusing on one thing? 458 00:59:02,792 --> 00:59:05,585 “I just take one shot and leave.” 459 00:59:07,646 --> 00:59:09,330 One frame. Here. I don't know... 460 00:59:11,161 --> 00:59:13,305 Can't get more than one. 461 00:59:14,984 --> 00:59:16,805 Then I always get confused... 462 00:59:17,897 --> 00:59:19,943 Here are six frames... 463 00:59:22,399 --> 00:59:24,440 And you have to choose one. 464 00:59:25,758 --> 00:59:28,080 And five more seem to be extra? 465 00:59:31,355 --> 00:59:33,782 — You are a very prolific author, 466 00:59:33,902 --> 00:59:37,783 and it seems to me that you always take only one shot, 467 00:59:37,903 --> 00:59:42,327 truly characterizes your style, tireless movement forward... 468 00:59:44,001 --> 00:59:45,749 I'm interested in this 469 00:59:45,869 --> 00:59:49,094 because you seem to me to be a very “accurate” photographer, 470 00:59:49,214 --> 00:59:53,137 and at the same time, we can say that you shoot so often and a lot, 471 00:59:53,257 --> 00:59:56,832 that truly accurate work is simply impossible... 472 00:59:58,419 --> 01:00:01,129 How would you comment on this? 473 01:00:02,552 --> 01:00:06,810 Is it possible to constantly move forward and at the same time be accurate and thoughtful? 474 01:00:06,930 --> 01:00:10,222 always know what you want to get as a result? 475 01:00:14,050 --> 01:00:17,168 - Well, I don’t think there’s any contradiction here... 476 01:00:18,128 --> 01:00:22,221 It is quite possible to be precise and at the same time move quickly, 477 01:00:22,341 --> 01:00:25,041 for example, playing the piano... 478 01:00:25,161 --> 01:00:26,542 Good example... 479 01:00:27,120 --> 01:00:30,008 There, too, you need to quickly play the right note... 480 01:00:30,618 --> 01:00:32,930 I don't see a big problem. 481 01:00:34,336 --> 01:00:36,743 - As for the composition, 482 01:00:36,863 --> 01:00:39,813 How much time do you spend preparing... 483 01:00:40,770 --> 01:00:44,346 — Someone asks how much time Bill spends 484 01:00:44,466 --> 01:00:46,815 thinking about the composition of your photos? 485 01:00:47,152 --> 01:00:48,909 - To tell the truth, 486 01:00:49,029 --> 01:00:51,598 I shoot almost instantly. 487 01:00:51,718 --> 01:00:54,388 Usually, if this does not happen immediately, 488 01:00:54,508 --> 01:00:57,414 that is, in less than a split second, 489 01:00:59,600 --> 01:01:01,875 I most likely just won’t take the shot, 490 01:01:01,995 --> 01:01:05,934 because everything comes together into a single picture instantly... 491 01:01:07,336 --> 01:01:10,088 And if you wait too long, it will be too late. 492 01:01:20,372 --> 01:01:23,448 - They ask how consciously you resort 493 01:01:23,568 --> 01:01:27,042 using triangles and diagonals when building a composition? 494 01:01:29,136 --> 01:01:33,101 - Well, there are just a lot of triangles and squares and all that stuff around... 495 01:01:47,764 --> 01:01:50,547 — When you photograph people, 496 01:01:52,807 --> 01:01:57,159 Do you also shoot quickly so that they don’t have time to react? 497 01:01:57,279 --> 01:02:00,366 No planning or staging? 498 01:02:17,533 --> 01:02:20,438 It seems to a person that Bill shoots the frame as he sees it, 499 01:02:20,558 --> 01:02:23,023 does he choose the angle, does he frame... 500 01:02:23,143 --> 01:02:25,450 Eternal questions for Eggleston... 501 01:02:27,571 --> 01:02:32,169 - It’s true, I never move away, I don’t frame... 502 01:02:32,962 --> 01:02:35,515 - You take the picture as you see it... 503 01:02:35,635 --> 01:02:36,524 - Exactly. 504 01:02:36,644 --> 01:02:40,050 I just take it and shoot it and don’t think about it anymore. 505 01:02:42,362 --> 01:02:45,270 Because, you know, there will be another shot... 506 01:02:51,263 --> 01:02:53,481 This is where I was drawn to the couples. 507 01:02:55,124 --> 01:02:57,854 Here's a couple, here's a couple, and here... 508 01:03:08,931 --> 01:03:11,452 — Tell us about how you select photographs, 509 01:03:11,572 --> 01:03:14,413 you're looking at contact prints... 510 01:03:15,940 --> 01:03:18,472 - Well, I don't have contact prints, 511 01:03:18,592 --> 01:03:20,894 I use everything, basically. 512 01:03:23,044 --> 01:03:27,072 And then they just accumulate in my archive, 513 01:03:27,192 --> 01:03:31,173 where full-size prints of all my photographs are stored. 514 01:03:36,619 --> 01:03:39,006 —Have you started publishing your works? 515 01:03:39,920 --> 01:03:42,264 — Black and white, but not color. 516 01:03:42,384 --> 01:03:45,012 I always use other printers for color. 517 01:03:48,948 --> 01:03:52,087 — Do they still print using the color transfer method? 518 01:03:52,338 --> 01:03:54,985 - Yes, but very rarely. 519 01:03:56,407 --> 01:03:59,619 It is very complex and time consuming. 520 01:03:59,739 --> 01:04:01,994 A very old process. 521 01:04:03,176 --> 01:04:05,551 — Are your new works published based on it? 522 01:04:05,671 --> 01:04:06,450 - Yes. 523 01:04:06,570 --> 01:04:10,156 I also do a lot of what are called chromogenic prints, 524 01:04:10,276 --> 01:04:12,060 This is a simpler technology 525 01:04:12,180 --> 01:04:15,368 but the bulk is still printed using color transfer. 526 01:04:19,427 --> 01:04:21,339 It was a strange evening 527 01:04:21,459 --> 01:04:24,028 New York, Park Avenue I think. 528 01:04:24,812 --> 01:04:27,888 I was walking late at night at a friend's house... 529 01:04:31,006 --> 01:04:35,190 And I heard a scream, a blood-curdling scream, 530 01:04:36,941 --> 01:04:40,216 coming from one of the windows of this house, 531 01:04:40,336 --> 01:04:42,339 unclear from which... 532 01:04:43,783 --> 01:04:47,092 And I just stopped right there, took this picture, 533 01:04:48,201 --> 01:04:51,894 windows, dark house, clouds, moonlight... 534 01:04:56,004 --> 01:04:58,033 Well, I just moved on 535 01:04:58,153 --> 01:05:01,151 because I had no idea where the scream was coming from, 536 01:05:01,271 --> 01:05:02,882 and why did they shout... 537 01:05:03,466 --> 01:05:07,420 Maybe someone was in trouble, or maybe they were just going crazy. 538 01:05:10,738 --> 01:05:11,910 Or got drunk. 539 01:05:12,292 --> 01:05:13,390 I don't know. 540 01:05:14,206 --> 01:05:15,912 I just moved on. 541 01:05:17,874 --> 01:05:19,093 Let's turn off the projector. 542 01:05:20,214 --> 01:05:23,065 I want to thank Rose for introducing me, 543 01:05:23,185 --> 01:05:26,099 Connie for her help, and, of course, William Eggleston 544 01:05:26,219 --> 01:05:28,448 for preparing these slides and engaging conversation. 545 01:05:58,867 --> 01:06:00,876 A gift from a fan. 546 01:06:05,247 --> 01:06:08,119 She said she had dinner with you in Mexico City, is that true? 547 01:06:11,145 --> 01:06:13,227 four years later 548 01:06:22,021 --> 01:06:25,233 Lee Haizlip did not die of cancer in October 2003. 549 01:06:25,353 --> 01:06:28,403 and from complications from long-term alcoholism. 550 01:06:30,478 --> 01:06:32,811 I found myself in Memphis that week. 551 01:06:34,185 --> 01:06:35,628 Two days later 552 01:06:35,748 --> 01:06:39,060 Bill tripped and hit his head on the fireplace in the dining room. 553 01:06:39,180 --> 01:06:41,551 He was very ill and did not get out of bed, 554 01:06:41,671 --> 01:06:44,812 as was apparently the case 10 years ago when Lucia Birch died, 555 01:06:44,932 --> 01:06:48,477 and he ended up in the clinic with an attack of deep depression. 556 01:07:09,703 --> 01:07:10,938 It seemed to me 557 01:07:11,058 --> 01:07:14,338 that it's time to pull out that old material from the archives, 558 01:07:14,458 --> 01:07:17,080 and then I realized that the story would be incomplete 559 01:07:17,200 --> 01:07:19,153 without the participation of Rose Eggleston. 560 01:07:20,342 --> 01:07:23,240 Rose and Bill met in their youth. 561 01:07:24,276 --> 01:07:27,393 They drove along the Mississippi in identical blue Cadillacs. 562 01:07:28,270 --> 01:07:30,990 Their marriage has lasted for more than forty years. 563 01:07:31,589 --> 01:07:33,608 “I had to go and find them.” 564 01:07:33,728 --> 01:07:35,826 I didn't have them at home. 565 01:07:35,946 --> 01:07:39,512 For me this is a special, very memorable book, 566 01:07:40,956 --> 01:07:43,284 although there is not much in it, 567 01:07:44,855 --> 01:07:49,061 and it's so old that many of the pictures have already peeled off 568 01:07:50,981 --> 01:07:54,486 but here are probably some of the very first photographs, 569 01:07:54,606 --> 01:07:56,777 which Bill filmed in real life. 570 01:07:57,475 --> 01:07:59,745 When he was very young... 571 01:08:00,781 --> 01:08:03,532 He can correct me here, I don't mind... 572 01:08:03,652 --> 01:08:05,425 Well, as I said, 573 01:08:05,545 --> 01:08:07,954 it is very shabby, the glue has dried out, 574 01:08:08,074 --> 01:08:10,238 I can tell who these people are... 575 01:08:10,646 --> 01:08:12,804 It’s like, this is me, right there. 576 01:08:13,127 --> 01:08:15,723 I was very young then, I remember. 577 01:08:15,843 --> 01:08:18,615 These are very memorable pictures for me. 578 01:08:19,694 --> 01:08:20,971 And it seems to me... 579 01:08:21,672 --> 01:08:23,011 Oh, here I go again... 580 01:08:30,276 --> 01:08:31,615 And again I... 581 01:08:33,347 --> 01:08:35,147 I'm probably about 16 here... 582 01:08:44,000 --> 01:08:47,191 What happens when 16-year-olds play artists... 583 01:08:49,356 --> 01:08:50,758 This is mom. 584 01:08:52,543 --> 01:08:54,510 — Bill filmed this? - Yes. 585 01:08:54,630 --> 01:08:56,858 These are his earliest works. 586 01:09:02,559 --> 01:09:05,101 These seem very interesting to me... 587 01:09:08,232 --> 01:09:09,759 But this one, I'm sure 588 01:09:09,879 --> 01:09:12,511 the very first photograph of him known to me. 589 01:09:16,665 --> 01:09:18,119 This is Bill's father. 590 01:09:19,019 --> 01:09:21,530 He was a very nice man. 591 01:09:24,604 --> 01:09:27,512 “His name was William Joseph Eggleston?” 592 01:09:27,632 --> 01:09:28,982 - Yes, that's right. 593 01:09:29,317 --> 01:09:31,387 He was a very nice man. 594 01:09:31,507 --> 01:09:33,658 In fact, I love their whole family, 595 01:09:33,778 --> 01:09:35,724 The Egglestons are very nice people. 596 01:09:36,499 --> 01:09:38,235 In fact. 597 01:09:38,355 --> 01:09:40,853 By themselves, genetically or something. 598 01:09:42,034 --> 01:09:43,959 Another shot of Bill's father. 599 01:09:45,036 --> 01:09:46,836 You definitely took this one, right? 600 01:09:47,239 --> 01:09:49,436 Yes, this is one of his first pictures. 601 01:09:55,735 --> 01:09:57,357 This is me and my daughter. 602 01:10:04,037 --> 01:10:05,920 And this is me and Bill Jr. 603 01:10:07,207 --> 01:10:08,797 We're coming to the end... 604 01:10:09,247 --> 01:10:10,575 This is Bill's mom. 605 01:10:15,742 --> 01:10:17,416 God, how long ago it was!.. 606 01:10:17,536 --> 01:10:20,408 Look how young you are here, Bill! 607 01:10:22,191 --> 01:10:23,875 I loved portraits. 608 01:10:24,388 --> 01:10:27,516 I had a close friend, he is in this photo, 609 01:10:27,636 --> 01:10:31,045 who was a member of the so-called Naval League... 610 01:10:34,568 --> 01:10:36,901 And he insisted that I join them. 611 01:10:40,448 --> 01:10:42,520 And every few months 612 01:10:42,640 --> 01:10:46,163 The Navy sent us to some base, 613 01:10:48,839 --> 01:10:50,732 - I can hardly imagine, Bill... 614 01:10:52,061 --> 01:10:54,541 — Ships, sometimes aircraft carriers... 615 01:10:54,802 --> 01:10:57,527 “Bill took a lot of good photographs there.” 616 01:10:57,647 --> 01:10:59,118 On the decks... 617 01:10:59,703 --> 01:11:01,226 - I didn’t know about this... 618 01:11:01,937 --> 01:11:03,140 - Yes, a lot. 619 01:11:03,838 --> 01:11:05,826 - I was terribly angry once, 620 01:11:05,946 --> 01:11:09,257 when someone, whose name we will not mention, 621 01:11:09,377 --> 01:11:12,888 I was kind of giving a lecture about Bill, and I said: 622 01:11:13,746 --> 01:11:18,769 “Well, basically, of course, he films his relatives”... 623 01:11:19,878 --> 01:11:23,132 And I thought, "Nothing like that, idiot!" 624 01:11:25,789 --> 01:11:28,139 I remember how he told me, 625 01:11:29,572 --> 01:11:33,129 how terribly difficult it is to photograph people. 626 01:11:34,605 --> 01:11:36,289 Even your relatives. 627 01:11:37,270 --> 01:11:40,105 Or rather, not to mention relatives. 628 01:11:41,507 --> 01:11:43,704 Invading personal space 629 01:11:44,291 --> 01:11:46,153 which belongs to others. 630 01:11:46,603 --> 01:11:49,857 He had to deal with all this. 631 01:11:50,715 --> 01:11:52,943 night vision 632 01:12:14,476 --> 01:12:16,380 June 10, 2004 633 01:12:20,546 --> 01:12:22,953 - Continue! Why did you stop? 634 01:12:24,971 --> 01:12:27,310 “You didn’t seem to like it that much.” 635 01:12:27,430 --> 01:12:29,292 Why the hell should I play? 636 01:12:32,303 --> 01:12:34,176 — It was Gershwin, right? 637 01:12:36,728 --> 01:12:37,482 Oh yes... 638 01:12:49,568 --> 01:12:51,095 Do you remember this one, Bill? 639 01:13:05,458 --> 01:13:06,693 And what next?.. 640 01:13:10,972 --> 01:13:12,039 Who is this? 641 01:13:13,012 --> 01:13:14,236 — Cole Porter. 642 01:13:14,822 --> 01:13:17,218 -Yes, Cole Porter! I'll get up and dance now! 643 01:13:24,188 --> 01:13:26,458 dreams about photography 644 01:13:27,300 --> 01:13:30,177 In a dream, I take a photo looking at him, 645 01:13:31,662 --> 01:13:34,518 and thinking that he is simply wonderful. 646 01:13:36,573 --> 01:13:38,289 Beautiful dreams 647 01:13:38,801 --> 01:13:40,507 wonderful photos. 648 01:13:40,894 --> 01:13:42,610 Sometimes I remember 649 01:13:44,367 --> 01:13:46,260 just a few minutes 650 01:13:46,480 --> 01:13:49,940 some of the most vivid fragments of your dreams. 651 01:13:55,901 --> 01:14:00,379 But all dreams are forgotten within a few minutes... 652 01:14:03,609 --> 01:14:06,036 Even bright ones like these. 653 01:14:09,248 --> 01:14:10,880 I would call them... 654 01:14:11,351 --> 01:14:13,391 ...beautiful, wonderful photographs. 655 01:14:14,798 --> 01:14:16,681 Always hated it. 656 01:14:19,385 --> 01:14:21,530 Technology cannot yet... 657 01:14:23,318 --> 01:14:25,160 ...write down dreams. 658 01:14:26,975 --> 01:14:29,580 And when you wake up, after a couple of minutes... 659 01:14:32,658 --> 01:14:33,986 Don't remember... 660 01:14:36,382 --> 01:14:38,642 They evaporate... unfortunately. 661 01:14:40,400 --> 01:14:42,200 A couple of minutes and that's it... 662 01:14:45,906 --> 01:14:48,155 I wish it weren't like this, but alas. 663 01:14:49,793 --> 01:14:52,743 - But photography is, in a sense, the reverse process, 664 01:14:52,863 --> 01:14:55,141 creating relatively stable images, 665 01:14:55,261 --> 01:14:57,307 which disappear at the moment of shooting. 666 01:14:59,093 --> 01:15:01,447 The light is constantly changing 667 01:15:01,567 --> 01:15:04,386 but you are left with a snapshot of his condition. 668 01:15:09,742 --> 01:15:11,479 Reality is like a dream 669 01:15:11,599 --> 01:15:13,436 and the photo is real. 670 01:15:19,622 --> 01:15:22,960 “You know, this means absolutely nothing to me.” 671 01:15:24,874 --> 01:15:26,036 - Nothing at all? 672 01:15:34,841 --> 01:15:37,697 “I never thought about whether she was real or... 673 01:15:38,482 --> 01:15:40,721 - But the photograph takes on a finished form, 674 01:15:41,699 --> 01:15:44,795 reality constantly slips away, but the photograph does not change... 675 01:15:46,869 --> 01:15:49,045 This is not metaphysics, it is a simple fact. 676 01:15:52,335 --> 01:15:54,867 - But I don’t take this as a fact. 677 01:15:54,987 --> 01:15:55,709 - No? 678 01:15:56,881 --> 01:15:59,193 Don't you think photography delays time? 679 01:16:05,264 --> 01:16:07,137 - I never thought about it... 680 01:16:08,810 --> 01:16:12,118 I just love... filming it all... 681 01:16:19,703 --> 01:16:20,843 And I know... 682 01:16:22,914 --> 01:16:24,808 that what I do is 683 01:16:24,928 --> 01:16:28,296 made many reconsider their views... 684 01:16:32,098 --> 01:16:33,594 But in reality... 685 01:16:37,175 --> 01:16:39,591 I don't have a specific point of view... 686 01:16:40,638 --> 01:16:42,458 and it just can't be... 687 01:16:43,922 --> 01:16:46,056 — Don’t you think that your photographs delay time? 688 01:16:46,762 --> 01:16:49,148 - No, I never thought about it... 689 01:16:50,184 --> 01:16:51,470 - That is, the idea of 690 01:16:51,590 --> 01:16:55,164 that photography can be like a ghostly reflection of reality 691 01:16:55,284 --> 01:16:56,911 never crossed your mind? 692 01:16:57,817 --> 01:16:59,250 - No, never... 693 01:17:00,255 --> 01:17:02,012 - What is this, like a trace, a reflection... 694 01:17:03,770 --> 01:17:05,559 - I don’t understand all this... 695 01:17:07,225 --> 01:17:09,726 - A reflection of something that is already gone... 696 01:17:11,568 --> 01:17:13,263 - You see, the problem is... 697 01:17:13,383 --> 01:17:16,444 that everything that is in photographs, in snapshots, 698 01:17:16,564 --> 01:17:19,945 It is absolutely impossible to convey in words. 699 01:17:22,768 --> 01:17:24,980 They are not related to each other at all. 700 01:17:27,719 --> 01:17:30,086 - That is, when a photograph speaks to you, 701 01:17:30,206 --> 01:17:32,534 she doesn't speak the language of words, 702 01:17:32,654 --> 01:17:34,365 this is another level... 703 01:17:34,485 --> 01:17:36,024 - Well, in general... 704 01:17:36,630 --> 01:17:40,917 We can say that words definitely have nothing to do with it. 705 01:17:44,362 --> 01:17:46,057 - What is important? Experience? 706 01:17:46,710 --> 01:17:49,085 Experiencing an emotional experience... 707 01:17:49,205 --> 01:17:51,209 Emotional reaction to the outside world? 708 01:17:55,282 --> 01:17:56,548 Just like music 709 01:17:56,668 --> 01:17:58,975 it generates a response in the soul of the listener, 710 01:17:59,095 --> 01:18:01,319 which cannot be expressed in words. 711 01:18:01,439 --> 01:18:03,178 - I'm not sure about that. 712 01:18:04,695 --> 01:18:07,430 — But music resonates in your soul, doesn’t it? 713 01:18:08,147 --> 01:18:10,051 - I'm not sure, actually... 714 01:18:11,301 --> 01:18:13,791 - Then why do you think you love music? 715 01:18:16,851 --> 01:18:18,459 - I like doing it. 716 01:18:32,485 --> 01:18:34,567 What is there to talk about? 717 01:18:40,115 --> 01:18:43,316 Art, or what we call art 718 01:18:46,637 --> 01:18:49,799 You can love him, you can admire him, 719 01:18:49,919 --> 01:18:52,272 but it is impossible to talk about him. 720 01:18:53,336 --> 01:18:55,151 It's pointless. 721 01:18:58,757 --> 01:19:00,514 new york 722 01:19:02,528 --> 01:19:04,840 Getty Foundation Award for Contribution to the Arts 723 01:19:14,675 --> 01:19:18,232 — Meet today's laureate, William Eggleston. 724 01:19:47,486 --> 01:19:48,281 - Well... 725 01:19:49,133 --> 01:19:54,181 Of course, now I understand that it was not in vain that I came here today. 726 01:19:58,172 --> 01:20:00,002 Thank you very much. 727 01:20:34,474 --> 01:20:37,016 Cameraman, director and lyricist: Michael Almereyda 728 01:23:27,318 --> 01:23:28,960 - Wonderful song... 729 01:23:39,637 --> 01:23:41,771 - I think we are terribly lucky... 730 01:23:42,410 --> 01:23:43,712 - That's right. 731 01:23:44,151 --> 01:23:45,522 - We live... 732 01:23:45,642 --> 01:23:47,660 - The happiest people in the world... 733 01:23:51,910 --> 01:23:53,605 That's all true. 734 01:24:02,476 --> 01:24:04,401 Not everyone is so lucky. 735 01:24:04,521 --> 01:24:07,215 We weren't born in the Middle Ages by any chance? 736 01:24:07,335 --> 01:24:11,530 We saw and experienced so many beautiful things with our own eyes... 737 01:24:12,408 --> 01:24:13,988 Well, Roy Orbison... 738 01:24:15,128 --> 01:24:17,388 It didn’t exist in the Middle Ages... 739 01:24:21,220 --> 01:24:24,641 - Well, we were not arrested or tortured by the police... 740 01:24:25,501 --> 01:24:26,966 - I was arrested. 741 01:24:27,865 --> 01:24:29,141 - Come on. 742 01:24:29,261 --> 01:24:30,826 Then me too. 743 01:24:33,937 --> 01:24:35,350 What's most important is 744 01:24:35,470 --> 01:24:38,028 we saw a lot, heard a lot and read a lot... 745 01:24:39,116 --> 01:24:40,790 - Yes, we are very lucky.