by Gerald Boerner

  

"The camera sees more than the eye."
— Edward Weston, Photographer

“I see no reason for recording the obvious.”
— Edward Weston, Photographer

"I want the stark beauty that a lens can so exactly render presented without interference of artistic effect."
— Edward Weston, Photographer

Bonus: Photographer’s Thought for the Day…
“[Weston calls photography] a way of self-development, a means to discover and identify oneself with all the manifestations of basic forms – with nature , the source.”
— Edward Weston, Photographer

Bonus: Photographer’s Thought for the Day…
“Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk.”
— Edward Weston, Photographer

Bonus: Photographer’s Thought for the Day…
“My own eyes are no more than scouts on a preliminary search, for the camera’s eye may entirely change my idea.”
— Edward Weston, Photographer

Bonus: Photographer’s Thought for the Day…
“Photography to the amateur is recreation, to the professional it is work, and hard work too, no matter how pleasurable it my be.”
— Edward Weston, Photographer

Bonus: Photographer’s Thought for the Day…
“Ultimately success or failure in photographing people depends on the photographer’s ability to understand his fellow man.”
— Edward Weston, Photographer

Bonus: Photographer’s Thought for the Day…
“Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual.”
— Edward Weston, Photographer

Bonus: Photographer’s Thought for the Day…
“The photograph isolates and perpetuates a moment of time: an important and revealing moment, or an unimportant and meaningless one, depending upon the photographer’s understanding of his subject and mastery of his process.”
— Edward Weston, Photographer

Bonus: Photographer’s Thought for the Day…
“I was extravagant in the matter of cameras – anything photographic – I had to have the best. But that was to further my work. In most things I have gone along with the plainest – or without.”
— Edward Weston, Photographer

Bonus: Photographer’s Thought for the Day…
“Now to consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk. Such rules and laws are deduced from the accomplished fact; they are the products of reflection.”
— Edward Weston, Photographer

Thought for the Day…
“There is nothing like a Bach fugue to remove me from a discordant moment… only Bach hold up fresh and strong after repeated playing. I can always return to Bach when the other records weary me.”
— Edward Weston, Photographer

Bonus: Photographer’s Thought for the Day…
“The photographer’s most important and likewise most difficult task is not learning to manage his camera, or to develop, or to print. It is learning to see photographically – that is, learning to see his subject matter in terms of the capacities of his tools and processes, so that he can instantaneously translate the elements and values in a scene before him into the photograph he wants to make.”
— Edward Weston, Photographer

  

Edward Henry Weston (1886 – 1958)

Mather_and_Weston_Imogen_Cunningham_1922 Edward Henry Weston was an American photographer, and co-founder of Group f/64. Most of his work was done using an 8 by 10 inch view camera.

Weston’s early work was heavily into Pictorialism with its inclination for profound meanings and a reliance on mysterious chiarscuro or sfumato. He was earning his living during the early 1920s with studio portraits, especially of children. His foray into commercial work with his images of the smokestacks of Armco Steel probably marked the turning point at which he moved from the Pictorialist “soft focus” to a path to “Straight Photography” of landscapes, objects in nature and plants as well as his focus on the human nudes.

Life and work…

Lee-Friedlander_01 He was given his first camera, a Kodak Bull’s-Eye #2, for his 16th birthday, when he began taking photographs. His favorite hangouts were Chicago parks and a farm owned by his aunt. Weston met with quick success and the Chicago Art Institute exhibited his photographs a year later, in 1903. He attended the Illinois College of Photography.

In 1906, Weston moved to California, where he decided to stay and pursue a career in photography. In 1910, Weston opened his first photographic studio in Tropico, California (now Glendale) and wrote articles about his unconventional methods of portraiture for several high-circulation magazines.

Pepper_1930_large In 1922, Weston experienced a transition from pictorialism to straight photography, becoming "the pioneer of precise and sharp presentation". His pictures included the human figure as well as items of nature, including seaside wildlife, plants, and landscapes. Tina Modotti, his professional (and romantic) partner, often accompanied him to Mexico, creating much gossip in the media. Weston’s sons were also frequent companions, receiving lessons in photography from their experienced father. Brett and Cole later embarked on their own careers in the field, along with Weston’s grandson Kim and great-granddaughter Christine.

weston_2After 1927, Weston worked mainly with nudes, still life — his shells and vegetable studies were especially important — and landscape subjects. Henrietta Shore was a companion in the 1930s; her paintings influenced him to photograph her shells. After a few exhibitions of his works in New York, he co-founded Group f/64 in 1932 with Ansel Adams, Willard Van Dyke and others. The term f/64 referred to a very small aperture setting on a large format camera, which secured great depth of field, making a photograph appear evenly sharp from foreground to background. Weston also achieved great sharpness by not enlarging. He made contact prints from his 4×5" or 8×10" negatives. The detailed, straight photography that the group espoused was in opposition to the pictorialist soft-edged methods that were still in fashion at the time.

edward-westonA bay on the California coast near Big Sur, known as Point Lobos, became a great treasure trove for the photographer as the Galapagos Islands were to Charles Darwin. They inspired him to create images of the beach littered with driftwood and animal cadavers, bones and seaweed, tidal pools, and surf-hollowed rocks. For Weston, this was a laboratory for the generation of new, sculptural cosmos.

weston01In 1937 the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation awarded Weston a fellowship, the first given to a photographer. He married his assistant, Charis Wilson, the following year (they had lived together since 1934, and divorced in 1946). During this time he received exclusive commissions and published several books, some with Wilson, including an edition of Whitman’s Leaves of Grass illustrated with his photographs. He also produced some of his few color photographs with Willard Van Dyke in 1947. Weston also collaborated on several volumes of his photographs with photography critic Nancy Newhall, beginning in 1946.

Legacy…

“…success in photography, portraits especially, is dependent on being able to grasp those supreme instants which pass with the ticking of a clock, never to be duplicated – so light, balance – expression must be seen – felt as it were – in a flash, the mechanics and technique being so perfected in one as to be absolutely automatic.”
— Edward Weston, Photographer

His comprehensive legacy includes the detailed and articulate Daybooks he kept regularly from the mid-1920s to 1934, which allow a very intimate glimpse into his personal life, his views on photography, and his working methods. Weston is generally recognized as one of the greatest photographic artists of the 20th century.

“Photography suits the temper of this age – of active bodies and minds. It is a perfect medium for one whose mind is teeming with ideas, imagery, for a prolific worker who would be slowed down by painting or sculpting, for one who sees quickly and acts decisively, accurately.”
— Edward Weston, Photographer

  

Background and biographical information is from Wikipedia articles on:

Edward Weston that can be found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Weston

Also, an article on Edward Weston found in: 
Peter Stepan. (2008) 50 Photographers You Should Know. New York: Prestel.