William Eggleston, Memphis, Tennessee Possibly 1977 - 1980

Rosalind Solomon made this portrait of William Eggleston in Memphis, Tennessee using gelatin silver print. The magic of photography is that the final image belies the complex chemical processes through which it comes into being. It begins with light, captured by the camera's lens, and then transformed through a darkroom alchemy of developers, stop baths, and fixers. All of this manipulation is registered on the light-sensitive paper, itself an industrial product of coatings and emulsions. In this case, the material contributes to the image’s dramatic contrasts, Eggleston’s face half-illuminated, half-lost in shadow. There’s a tension here, between the apparent immediacy of the photograph, and the labor-intensive processes required for its production. That is to say, while a photograph can feel like a direct transcription of reality, it is in fact always mediated, its truth claims dependent on a whole chain of industrial and craft practices. This interplay between technology, labor, and artistry is key to understanding the photograph's enduring power.