5x7

Product Description

William Egglestons latest monograph features photographs taken during the early 1970s using a large format 5x7 camera. While the book includes imagery typical of the Eggleston oeuvre streetscapes, parked automobiles, portraits of the strange and disenfranchisedthe book also offers never-before-published photographs taken in the nightclubs Eggleston used to frequent.

Customer Reviews:

An Eggleston By-way.......2007-09-14

This superbly printed and presented collection of photographs is of interest to Eggleston completists as a path not taken by the photographer, and as such is not really representative of his best work. That's not to say the photographs in this book aren't high quality; they are, and as a portraitist lugging his 5x7 camera around amongst a bunch of fairly "lit" denizens well after midnight, Mr Bill does a great job. For the general viewer unfamiliar with Eggleston's distinguished ouevre, this book is not the place to start, but can certainly be recommended as another Twin Palms Publishing triumph. I'm glad they and the photographer allowed these images to see the light of day. The book includes a small number of color images that contrast very nicely with the black and white portraits.

Portraits, etc........2007-08-26

This book consists mainly of portraits by William Eggleston. The identities of the people are mostly not indicated and the locations are not identified although the text reports they were done in clubs in Memphis in 1973. Numerous photos are in black and white although Eggleston is noted as one of the ground-breakers in color photography. As a document, the photos are quite successful. We see a tiny slice of the 1970s style. The book is huge in format and the photos are lovingly reproduced. It is impressive on these accounts.

However, the book fails to satisfy when compared to either "2 1/4" or "Los Alamos". Whereas the previous volumns were evocative of both time and place, the current book's scope is too narrow. We are asked to look at pictures of total strangers but we are not given any visual clues as to why these subjects are important to our lives. The main thought I had when finished looking at the photos was one of puzzlement. Is he trying to distill an era, almost 35 years later, in these few photographs? If so, I can't see the purpose when I think of the portraiture of someone like Richard Avedon--a photographer whose work is pretty universally acknowledged as the ultimate in describing an era in "mug shots". Still, Eggleston remains Eggleston. He is one of my favorite artists and I can find only this one fault with this work. It's not the book to buy if you want an introduction to his photography. If you are an Eggleston fan, however, you will not want to let it pass you by and go out of print.

William Eggleston 5x7.......2007-04-03

A great book of portraits that reads like a museum show- very beautifully done. Large, exquisite reproductions, zero text until the end with an essay and interview with Michael Almereyda.

Being There.......2007-03-13

Contemporary art photography seems to be mired in such an identity crisis at present that it is both a relief and a joy to live in William Eggleston's world of lush barroom vinyl with characters so breathtakingly present. His 5 x 7 portraits are both spontaneous and profound....as if he has brushed against strangers and in a 60th of a second got a look inside. Also, he has made one of the best photographs of a stuffed fish that I have ever seen.

A welcome and enthusiastically recommended addition.......2007-02-04

William Eggleston is a photographer who has turned his medium into art, and his large format 5x7 camera into an artists tool. "5x7" is a compilation of photographs (fifty-seven plates) taken by Eggleston during the early 1970s and includes images of streetscapes, parked automobiles, portraits of the strange and disenfranchised. Of particular note are the photographs taken in the nightclubs of that time that Eggleston was want to frequent. Enhanced with an informed and informative essay by Michael Alereyda, "5x7" is a superbly organized and presented monograph that is a welcome and enthusiastically recommended addition to personal, professional, and academic library 20th Century American Photography reference collections.

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The Democratic Forest

Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0385266510
Release Date: 1989-10-30

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It's not about Los Alamos
No text distracts from the full-page photographs
Insanely great photography
Spectacular book!

Los Alamos
William Eggleston
Manufacturer: Scalo Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3908247691

Book Description

"I had this notion of what I called a democratic way of looking around, that nothing was more or less important," William Eggleston once said. This radical attitude guided his ground-breaking work in color photography, work that has prefigured many recent developments in art and photography. Los Alamos presents a series of photographs that has never before been shown, yet it contains a blueprint of Eggleston's aesthetics, his subtle use of subdued color hues, the casual elegance of his trenchant observations of the mysteries of the mundane. The photographs in Los Alamos were shot in Eggleston's native Memphis and on countless road trips across the American South from 1964 to 1968 and from 1972 to 1974. Initially, Eggleston wanted to create a vast compendium of more than 2000 photographs to be contained in 20 volumes; he wanted the viewer to look at the photographs the way one looks at the world. He eventually abandoned this project--and hardly any of the negatives were ever printed. Now, 30 years later, we finally get to see a selection of this encyclopedia of Southern everyday life and vernacular culture. It's a stunning discovery that makes the so-called snapshot photography of recent years pale in comparison. Eggleston's astonishingly timeless portraits, still lives, landscapes, and photographs of buildings add up to a profound investigation of the world and our way of looking at it, a poetics of pleasures hidden in full view. They transcend the merely descriptive and uncover the universal encapsulated in the details and the detritus of life in a consumer culture. Published in collaboration with Museum Ludwig, Cologne.
One of the few genuises in photography. --Andy Grundberg
The world is so visually complicated that the word "banal" scarcely is very intelligent to use. All days are similar, no matter what part of this planet we're in. --William Eggleston

Essays by Walter Hopps and Thomas Weski.

Hardcover, 11.75 x 11 in., 224 pages, 97 color illustrations

Customer Reviews:

It's not about Los Alamos.......2003-08-21

The photos in this book are not about Los Alamos, New Mexico. Although some of them may have been taken there, many--maybe most--are from Eggleston's familiar Deep South. One is done in an airplane flying over God-knows-where.

But the photos aren't about the locations. They are about color. And the main colors are red, white and blue.

If Eggleston's "...Guide" was photographed under the influence of the design of the Confederate flag (as Eggleston has claimed), then the framework and inspiration for this book are the colors of the American flag.

Robert Frank's monotone classic "Americans" had the underlying theme of the American flag. Eggleston's "Los Alamos" uses the colors of the flag as a motif. Shot over the years 1966 through 1974, there is a range of emotions within the photographs. There is cynicism--those were times ripe with cynicism--but there is also much found to admire in the American landscape at that time. Particularly the richness of the colors portrayed in the most banal and commonplace of subjects. In this arena, few photographic artists compare with William Eggleston.

No text distracts from the full-page photographs.......2003-07-26

Los Alamos is a full-color, 175-page, photographic portrait of a New Mexican town. These images, captured on film by master photographer William Eggleston, range from 1966 to 1974 and superbly capture the ups, downs, scenery, and close-ups of a living, breathing city. No text distracts from the full-page photographs, which are presented as the works of art they are. This large sized compendium is a welcome and recommended addition to any personal, professional, academic, or community library Photography collection.

Insanely great photography.......2003-07-23

Eggleston is a bit of a mystery. His photographs make you open your eyes wide and say, "Wow!" but it's hard to say what it is about them that is so stunning. This book is the best thing he has published to date and it offers the clearest window into Eggleston's genius that I've seen. Reproduced on large pages in rich colors that leap out and shake you until you splutter, these pictures bypass the intellect and kick your sense of raw beauty like a mule with a belly full of habaneros.

It's clear to you that the beauty is all about the color, or is it? What's happening with the composition? Soemthing is at the tip of your tongue, but try as you might, you can't say what makes these pictures so obviously works of great genius.

When you calm back down and try to figure how a book of pictures that look almost like snapshots could sting you so hard, the accompanying essay by Thomas Weski gives the best account of Eggleston's work that I've seen to date---short, but clearer and more insightful than Janet Malcolm's meditation on color and snapshots in Diana and Nikon or Eudora Welty's introduction to The Democratic Forest.

Spectacular book!.......2003-06-21

This book is stunning! A large number of Eggleston's photographs beautifully printed on good paper. "Los Alamos" is one of the best photography books I have seen in years.

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the original
An excellent re-release.
Bill's artful snapshots

William Eggleston's Guide
John Szarkowski
Manufacturer: The Museum of Modern Art, New York
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0870703781
Release Date: 2002-10-02

Book Description

William Eggleston's Guide was the first one-man show of color photographs ever presented at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Museum's first publication of color photography. The reception was divided and passionate. The book and show unabashedly forced the art world to deal with color photography, a medium scarcely taken seriously at the time, and with the vernacular content of a body of photographs that could have been but definitely weren't some average American's Instamatic pictures from the family album. These photographs heralded a new mastery of the use of color as an integral element of photographic composition. Bound in a textured cover inset with a photograph of a tricycle and stamped with yearbook-style gold lettering, the Guide contained 48 images edited down from 375 shot between 1969 and 1971 and displayed a deceptively casual, actually super-refined look at the surrounding world. Here are people, landscapes, and odd little moments in and around Eggleston's hometown of Memphis--an anonymous woman in a loudly patterned dress and cat's eye glasses sitting, left leg slightly raised, on an equally loud outdoor sofa; a coal-fired barbecue shooting up flames, framed by a shiny silver tricycle, the curves of a gleaming black car fender, and someone's torso; a tiny, gray-haired lady in a faded, flowered housecoat, standing expectant, and dwarfed in the huge dark doorway of a mint-green room whose only visible furniture is a shaded lamp on an end table. For this edition of William Eggleston's Guide, The Museum of Modern Art has made new color separations from the original 35 mm slides, producing a facsimile edition in which the color will be freshly responsive to the photographer's intentions.

Customer Reviews:

the original.......2006-04-24

this is where color photography became art, and it is the MOST influential color work done to date. what can you say about this work except that if you are a photography student, lover, practitioner, or simple fan, you must own this book. this is the one folks, where it all began. giving it stars seems silly, but if ever there was a 5 star book, this is it.

An excellent re-release........2003-10-25

For those of you who already know Eggleston, there is something in particular to note about this book. I also purchased Eggleston's "The Hasselblad Award 1998," which features a handful of the same shots in Guide. This provided me an opportunity to compare the same shots in two different publications. There is absolutely no comparison to the superior quality of the prints in William Eggleston's Guide. In fact, shots that I loved in Guide I would not have even really noticed in Hasselblad (very poor color separation, blue tints, etc.). This is the book to get.

Bill's artful snapshots.......2003-04-08

William Eggleston's photos grow on you. Look through this book for the first time and the contents seem a bit like ordinary snapshots but look again and then again and with each viewing the images become more familiar (still with something fresh to discover each time) but now they start to blend together seamlessly. One reason for this, I think, is that the photos capture the everyday and the ordinary. Taken around Eggleston's hometown of Memphis and in the Deep South, they show some of his relations, street scenes, interiors, buildings and more, though the captions only state the locations. John Szarkowski says in the books introduction "..today's most radical and suggestive color photography derives much of its vigor from commonplace models" This capturing of the everyday and in color divided the critics in 1976 when the Museum of Modern Art used seventy-five of Egglestons's images for their first exhibition of color photography. The 'Guide' unfortunately only shows forty-eight from the show.

Art photography until this exhibition was in black and white and had been for years, color photos were mostly for ads, commercial print and snapshots. Thankfully the Museum's curator of photography, Szarkowski, had the good sense to allow the public to see something new and fresh. I think the 'Guide' is a good introduction to Eggleston and if you like his creative vision, as I do, have a look at these two books of his work:The Democratic Forest and Ancient & Modern. Both are full of wonderful color photos of the American everyday.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

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Beautiful
Maybe look for a first edition?
Good Images, Poor Production... See 'Guide' Instead
Beg, borrow, buy or steal this book
A fine addition to the Eggleston catalog

William Eggleston, 2 1/4
William Eggleston
Manufacturer: Twin Palms Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0944092705

Book Description

Born and raised in Mississippi and Tennessee, William Eggleston began taking pictures during the 1960s after seeing Henri Cartier-Bresson's The Decisive Moment. In 1966 he changed from black and white to color film, perhaps to make the medium more his own and less that of his esteemed predecessors. John Sarkowski, when he was curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art, called Eggleston the "first color photographer," and certainly the world in which we consider a color photograph as art has changed because of Eggleston.

From 1966 to 1971, Eggleston would occasionally use a two and one quarter inch format for photographs. These are collected and published here for the first time, adding more classic Eggleston images to photography's color canon.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful.......2007-01-24

I love Eggleston's photos because I have lived in the mid-south area during the period in which the pictures were taken. Great book.

Maybe look for a first edition?.......2006-06-17

I had read the reviews that complained about the quality of the photo
reproductions in this book before I found a copy at STRAND books. I looked
throught the book and agreed that the prints were not perfect, though they
still looked pretty good. Then I noticed a copy of the book on the shelf
with the spine printed in a different color (orange on orange cloth) and
looked at that. It turned out to be a first edition, and the copies with the
green stamping on the spine were 3rd editions. Side by side I looked at a
few photos and the first edition was much better printing than the 3rd. SO,
maybe, if you have a later edition you should contact the publisher and look
for an exchange if they still have any first editons in stock. Looks like at least one reprinting was less successful than
the initial pressing.

Other than all that, even the lesser pressing looked really good, and I
didn't see a problem with any faded colors or washed out images. The photos
looked very true to the variations you see in 120 film. Just because the
same photo looks richer or more vibrant in another collection doesn't mean
that it's more accurate to the original source negative/print.

Maybe others can verify what editons of the book they own. I noticed some
odd "banding" in blue skies on some prints in the 3rd edition when I looked
at it. Only noticable if you really got up close.

Good Images, Poor Production... See 'Guide' Instead.......2005-08-23

I am a fan of Eggleston's photos but I feel that the reproduction of these photos kept me from liking them more. A couple of the images seemed slightly out of focus (the grandmother and child as an example) and on more than a few the color seemed flat or washed out. I'm not sure if it's because of the paper or the printing, but compared to the recent reissue of the Eggleston "Guide" book, "2 1/4" did not measure up. And given that this was published by Twin Palms I was very surprised and disappointed since I liked many of the images. I recently picked up the Stephen Shore "Uncommon Places" book of color photographs and thought that had excellent paper/color reproduction (highly recommended). In the end I've decided to return this book, but I'll keep on enjoying William Eggleston's Guide.

Beg, borrow, buy or steal this book.......2001-11-02

I've looked at thousands of photo books in my life and this is one of my personal favorites. Why? It isn't, for the most part, because of the subject matter. Eggleston's images are pretty banal -- common everyday objects that we routinely ignore. I like this book because it shows an undisputed master dealing simultaneously with two photographic problems -- color and a square image format. Even if you don't agree with Szarkowski's assertion that Eggleston was the first photographer to actually see in color (in contrast to the emphasis upon form and texture that characterizes black and white photography), there is no disputing the originality of his vision and the influence that it has had on subsequent generations of photographers. The images in this book, from early in his career, beautifully display that vision. But, unlike any of his other photographs, the ones in this book are square. Most photographs are reproduced in rectangular format, providing them with a natural visual tension. Faced with a square format, many photographers opt for symmetry as a compositional strategy. Not Eggleston -- he uses color to create disproportionate visual weights and add a visual dynamic to the images. For a nice contrast, compare the images in this book to those in Larry Fink's Social Graces (black and white photos in the 2 1/4 format) to appreciate the difference between using color (Eggleston) and non-symmetric form (Fink) to get rid of the structural monotony of the square image format. Finally, this book is an absolute delight to hold. The pages and cover, as with most other Twin Palms books, provide tactile pleasures a quantum leap beyond those in 98% of other books.

A fine addition to the Eggleston catalog.......2000-03-09

This is a beautiful book, and those familiar with the photographer's work over the years will recognize his visual flair for color and love of the mystery in commonplace objects. In response to the previous reviewer, who was disappointed with the quality of image reproduction, I think the problem lies in the aging of the source negatives and/or transparencies...the sad but inevitable changes wrought by time. Twin Palms has done a fine job with this volume of early work by a master photogarapher.

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William Eggleston
William Eggleston , and Herve Chandes
Manufacturer: Thames & Hudson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0500974969

Book Description

Born in 1939 in Memphis, Tennessee, where he currently resides, William Eggleston is considered one of America's most important photographers. His 1976 exhibition, Photographs by William Eggleston, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, marked a turning point in the history of photography: this was when color photography gained recognition as a medium of artistic expression. His intense and dramatic use of color and "democratic" approach to mundane subject matter continue to have an enormous impact on contemporary photographic practice. Published to accompany a French exhibition, this book brings together Eggleston's most significant works, from his first experiments in black-and-white to a series of photographs of Kyoto produced specifically for the exhibit. Drawing on public and private collections in Europe and the United States, the book includes vintage prints executed in the technique most characteristic of his work, the dye transfer process, as well as many lesser-known and previously unseen photographs. From Mississippi to Berlin, Kenya to Asia, Eggleston has tirelessly explored the wider world, transforming, through his camera, the ordinary into the extraordinary. Distributed on behalf of the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain. 160 color photographs.

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Ancient and Modern
Mark Holborn
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0679414649
Release Date: 1992-08-25

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FUNTASTIC FILM
just ordered it,hope it's good
A quirky but fun film
True Stories-David Byrne
Not the widescreen version of an amazing film. Dvd -* Film - *****

True Stories
David Byrne , Len Jenshel , and William Eggleston
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140092307

Customer Reviews:

FUNTASTIC FILM.......2007-09-25

I've just read that, though this version is 1.33:1 full-screen, it is not Pan-N-Scan. It is actually an "open matte", meaning this is the ratio of the camera negative, and that any widescreen version version would be cropped from this image. I was also bemoaning the lack of a widescreen edition, but if this is really open matte, then we have here more visual information than a 16:9 ratio would have.

However, I got this from a poster on the IMDb messageboard for the film, and he did not provide proof. I'm still searching for documentation, but to no avail.

just ordered it,hope it's good.......2007-08-02

I saw this movie in the theater when it first came out. I must admit that I didn't get it at first. I quess I didn't know what to expect. But I rented the movie and I was hooked. Watched it over and over. I have recently been listening to the CD, I love the music, and I have been recalling the scenes in the movie. That made me realize that I had to add this movie to my collection. David Byrne was truly inspired when he created this great mix of music and movie story. It's no wonder that he was on the cover of Time Magazine that year as a true renaissance man.
I am looking forward to recieving my copy and watching it over and over again.

A quirky but fun film.......2007-05-09

I first saw this film on cable back in the early 1990's and taped it and it's one of those films that I watch from time to time over the years.

It helps to be a fan of the Talking Heads as it's essentially a T.H. film due to the fact that their music is featured within it and they are featured in a video montage of various "commercials" in the middle of it and David Burns plays the lead.

Based on a virtual town in Texas named Virgil and it's celebration of specialness, that is, showcasing one's unique talents in this small community, the film takes us through the days leading to the parade and show that is held in a field at the end of the week. We see various quirky characters like Lewis Fine, a large panda shaped guy who is basically a nice guy at heart but really wants a wife and spends his time in the film trying to get one. Lewis is superbly played by John Goodman and by the end, ends up marrying the laziest woman in the town, a well to do gal played by Swoozie Kurtz. She spends her days in bed eating, watching TV, reading and what not and she never lifts a fork but has a machine turn her pages, feed her etc - that's how lazy she is.

The match making is done through mystical powers of prayer by an African American man in a modest little house with his family who does a ritual in a special room he created for such a purpose and it's that and a chance viewing of Lewis singing at the show from the lazy woman that sparks the relationship and marriage of the two.

What I love about this film is it's offbeat characters during the mid 80's when that part of Texas is booming as people move down there for the semi conductor industry that sprang up down in those parts. I love how it portrays some of the characters, the mayor, Earl Culver, played by the late Spalding Gray, was almost evangelical in his zest for things such as the semi conductor industry, he's rich, the mayor and the emcee of the talent show and seems somewhat at odds with his family as they are presented in a stiff fashion.

There is the lying girl, who works at the semi conductor plant who is always telling tall tales of she doing this and that and people listen to her sceptically. Then there is a scene at a Fundimentalist church where the preacher is discussing through a song about things he fears in the song, "Puzzling Evidence".

All in all, a cute, quirky film that is well worth a viewing, or more.

True Stories-David Byrne.......2007-01-15

I love this movie, and David Byrne is great in this role, "poking" fun in his own way. Even the music that was written and used for the movie was perfect. I was elated that this movie is still available to purchase. It's a different sense of humor that some people may not enjoy, but if you can see it before you buy it, you'll know what I mean. (Gotta love John Goodman as "Louis the Dancing Bear", he was the right guy for that role).

Not the widescreen version of an amazing film. Dvd -* Film - *****.......2006-12-29

Film - 5 stars
Dvd - 1 star

I am choosing to leave the review of the film itself to others. This review focuses on the mediocre dvd issue by Warner.

I was quite surprised and dissapointed that Warner Brothers chose to release this dvd only in a full screen 'pan-and-scan' version, with absolutely no extras. I have seen the original wide-screen version of the film, at an art-house theatre in San Francisco - the best way to appreciate this film is to be lucky enough to see it on the big screen. Byrne used many artistically-framed wide-screen still compositions to set the tone throughout the film, which are broken up into 'pan-and-scan' segments to fit the tv screen on this version. It is not unlike trying to watch a Kubrick film on cable or video - it doesn't really capture the essence of the original film. The video quality on this dvd is not up really to current dvd standards. Also, having seen a short documentary about the making of this film, many years ago, and the photography book that was made to accompany the film, I know there is worthy material that could have been included as extras. Warner chose a no-frills dvd release.

This is such an under appreciated film, and fans and new viewers deserve a far better treatment of it on dvd. Having viewed it, I chose not to purchase this full-screen dvd until a superior version is made available, and urge others to consider this before purchasing.

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The Best of Both Worlds

Faulkner's Mississippi
Willie Morris
Manufacturer: Oxmoor House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0848710525

Customer Reviews:

The Best of Both Worlds.......2004-12-13

Faulkner's Mississippi

With excerpts from Sanctuary, The Faulkner Reader, As I Lay Dying, The Unvanquished, Light in August, Essays, Go Down, Moses; Absalom, Absalom!; and the exceptional writing style of editor/novelist Willie Morris, this work reveals the textures of Faulkner's Mississippi--cultural, linguistic, and social--making an exceptional commentary on southern life. Morris accomplishes the task of seizing and capturing the imagination of the reader. This image is heightened by the stark, often haunting photographs of Eggleston which combines the reality of Mississippi's landscape with an almost spiritual journey through Faulkner's mystical Yoknapatawpha County.

Morris, who served as writer-in-residence at the University of Mississippe (Ole Miss), has allowed the reader to visualize a southern way of life which is non-existent in many Mississippi communities. From the smell of corn liquor, fried chicken and hush puppies to the sounds of choral music and the clamour of University students and fall football, the reader is gently nudged from one scene to yet another.

Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha which extends from the Tallahatchie River to the north and the Yocona (patawpha) to the south, leaving its eastern and western boundaries to the readers imagination, encompasses the modern day town of Oxford, a center of intellectual achievement and southern hospitality. Named for the famous English University, this town possesses a remarkable and diverse culture. At it's epicenter stands the Lafayette County Courthouse: an imposing, white structure encircled by wizened oaks. From its deeply shaded benches old men relive past ventures or simply watch the city's comings and goings. A mile west of the Courthouse Square one encounters the youthful vigor of the University of Mississippi. This artfully landscaped campus has, during its history, weathered both Civil War and civil strife. All this and much more are revealed by Eggleston's photographic endeavours.

Although a little expensive, this work is a needed addition for any photographer, historian, or southern culture buff who dreams of a beauty and style which is nearly forgotten but which can be re-lived within the page of Faulkner's Mississippi.

by Dr. Carl Edwin Lindgren
COPYRIGHT 1991 Photographic Society of America, Inc.

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Aperture Ninety-Six
William Eggleston
Manufacturer: Aperture Book
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0893811513

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