William Eggleston's Stranded in Canton

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Image

—01. Photographs by William Eggleston.

Words

I was recommended William Eggleston’s film, Stranded in Canton, a while ago when discussing his work with a colleague, unbeknownst to me that on top of his influential body of photographs he had also produced this bizarre and innovative piece of video art. Shot using a black-and-white Sony Portapak unit with an infrared tube attached so he could record in dark places without lights, the outcome is part Southern Gothic circus sideshow and part hallucinatory cinéma-vérité documentation. In 2009, it was released as a book featuring 40 frame enlargements and other bonus materials, as well as a DVD copy of the remastered film. This volume, published by Twin Palms, is definitely one to check out, especially if you're interested in the fringes of 1970s American artistic expression or want to gain a deeper understanding of a highly influential career that is still going strong.

—Available from Photo-Eye Bookstore

Tim Hetherington: Infidel

Info

Softbound, 6x8 inches
240 pages, 200 colour illustrations
Photographs by Tim Hetherington
Introduction by Sebastian Junger
Published by Chris Boot

Words

The fact that at any given moment people are violently risking their lives for one cause or another is one of the hardest things for me to come to terms with in my relatively cushy existence. I am far from a military enthusiast, and also don't care much for nationalism in general, but I do think it's important to at least attempt to understand the position that soldiers on all sides are put in. Infidel, a 240-page book by Tim Hetherington, offers a beautiful and involved look into the day-to-day lives of a single platoon stationed in Afghanistan. It will certainly leave you feeling at least a small step closer to having any sort of grasp on what these men go through on a regular basis.

—Available from Photo-Eye Bookstore

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