Eggleston (1939) is a pioneer in the field of colour photography. He started taking colour photographs in the mid-sixties. They show and give meaning to aspects of daily life, however trivial the objects are. Eggleston uses photography as a means to express his own personal, unconventional view of the world: a so-called personal documentary. Places and people from his own region , Memphis, Tennessee, form the centre of his photographic world.

Eggleston speaks of his "democratic camera," that finds each object worth photographing. His approach of a subject can therefore be called democratic. His photos give simple subjects an unusual dignity. Simple objects, details or people often fill the frame of a photograph, giving the main topic an added meaning.