Last week to see new exhibition by influential photographer

You know that famous scene in American Beauty when the camera follows a white plastic bag dancing on the breeze? When mainstream film goers saw something extraordinary in the very ordinary, perhaps for the first time? Well that scene owes a great debt to the American photographer William Eggleston.

For it was Eggleston who pioneered an informal photography style in the seventies where he transformed everyday scenes and objects, from old coke bottles to car parks in his hometown of Memphis, into things of beauty, simply by looking at them in a different way.

This time last year I didn’t know my Eggleston from my Einstein.  But now I’m getting into taking my own pictures, I feel the need to discover the great photographers (blog to follow soon on new Irving Penn exhibition at the National Portrait once I’ve been) if only for inspiration. And Eggleston certainly delivers on inspiration. He can find beauty in the simplest of things.  He showed you don’t have to shoot amazing architecture or lush landscapes to take emotional, thought-provoking pictures.

His current exhibition, 21^st Century, at the Victoria Miro gallery near Old St/Angel (shown simultaneously at Chelm & Read gallery in New York) includes many such pictures shot over the past decade. Who would think of photographing layers and layers of ice, coloured with age, in a store freezer and making it interesting? Or the pink hue of old curtains which blanket a Cuban bathroom with an enchanting, barely-there glow?

Many professional and amateur photographers have tried to emulate Eggleston but few have succeeded in capturing moments in (everyday) life as magically as he does. Now in his seventies, he’s still able to use light and vivid colour (he’s also known as a father of colour photography) to create dreamlike, otherworldly pictures.  Humour also features in his work – look out for the flying santa.

If you are in any way interested in photography, this exhibition is not to be missed. It runs at Victoria Miro until Saturday 27th February (open Tuesday to Saturday).