William Eggleston: Polaroid SX-70

“The godfather of colour photography has released a new photo book, shedding light on a little-known facet of his output―his sumptuously sun-drenched Polaroids.” –Daisy Woodward, AnOther

This book is a facsimile of an album of Eggleston’s Polaroids assembled by the photographer himself, and containing the only photos he made in this medium. Consisting of 56 images taken with the Polaroid SX-70 (the now cult camera produced between 1972 and 1981) and hand-mounted in a black leather album also produced by the company, Polaroid SX-70 is the first publication of Eggleston’s Polaroids.

The gloriously mundane subjects of these photos―a Mississippi street sign, a telephone book, stacked crates of empty soda bottles―is familiar Eggleston territory, but, fascinatingly, all of these Polaroids were taken outdoors. They are rare records of Eggleston’s strolls or drives in and around Mississippi, complementing the majority of his work made with color negative film or color slides, and showing his flair for photo-sequencing in book form.