Bizarre.

Drive a few miles north from Dewey-Humboldt to Prescott on Highway 69 through central Arizona and you will see this seemingly abandoned Technicolor building perched amongst the desert magnificence:

William Eggleston (1939 – ), a one time Harvard professor, was the first photographer to have an exhibition of color snaps shown at MOMA in NYC. ‘Snaps’ is especially appropriate here because Eggleston’s choice of subject matter was supremely banal, all focus being on color. A poor photographer with a new vision which has been fooling the art crowd ever since. His prints were made using the long-discontinued Kodak Dye Transfer technology (think Technicolor for stills) and early originals command well into six figures

You can see a collage of his work by clicking this image:

Click the image.

When I tell you that his most famous image is that of the red ceiling in the top row, at $250,000 a pop, you will be able to draw your own conclusions. Eggleston waxes lyrical about the ‘blood red color’ in the original print, and so would you at that price.

Anyway, I was reminded of Eggleston’s banality and artlessness when passing this awfully painted building in the desert and could not resist pulling over for a couple of snaps.

Nikon F100, 24-120mm Nikkor AFD, Kodak Ektar 100. Processing and scanning by Sharpphoto.net.