Untitled (Car in Parking Lot) 1973

This photograph, "Untitled (Car in Parking Lot)" was made by William Eggleston, and it feels like he was just hanging out, waiting for something to happen. Eggleston's colour palette here is all about the gritty, sun-baked reality of the everyday, the unremarkable. Look how the faded browns and greys are punctuated by the rusty red of that pole base. It's like a visual hiccup, a small disruption in the mundane. Speaking of that pole, it's kind of the star of the show, isn't it? The way it anchors the image, the rough texture of the concrete, and the scrappy weeds growing around it. There is no real, clear moment, no dramatic event: rather, Eggleston seems to have just raised his camera and caught whatever was happening in front of him at that time. I'm reminded of other photographers, like Stephen Shore, who also found something compelling in the most ordinary places. It makes you wonder, what else are we missing if we don't slow down and really look?