Assignment 20: Research on Edward Weston

 EDWARD WESTON 

Edward Weston (1886–1958) was one of the most influential American photographers of the 20th century, celebrated for his pioneering work in modernist photography. Over a career spanning four decades, Weston explored subjects ranging from landscapes and nudes to still life and portraits, emphasizing clarity, form, and texture. He was a co-founder of the Group f/64 movement, which championed sharp focus and "pure" photographic vision in contrast to the soft-focus pictorialism of the early 1900s. 

Here, he has tried to capture the essence of the city and the coexistence of the railway station and the city together. It is a wide shot of the Union Station in Nashville and the attempt to capture the grandeur of the architecture seems very successful. 

The photograph consists of two shells placed in a composition where it loos dynamic. Here the lighting used is the hero of the photograph as that enhances the overall form of the two shells.  

This is a Portraiture of a person named Rose, shot in Mexico where Edward Weston captured multiple portraits and during this time he was moving from soft focus pictures to focusing more on Forms and shadows. In this picture, A Top Lighting is used where a sharp shadow is former on her face which gives a soft vibe to the subject. 

Here, Edward Weston, has experimented with multiple lightings on a Pepper as his subject where he portrayed a shrinked pepper as a very soft and smooth vegetable. With the tactful use of lighting he has tried to emphasize on the soft curves with the supporting soft shadows on the subject. 

This is a pure example of the Leading Lines Composition, which he has successfully achieved with the perfect proportion of the road in the photograph. The horizon beyond the mountains are not paid attention to as the main subject is this large expanse of desert in front of him, which he has captured appropriately. 

This is a portraiture of Neil Weston, use of broad lighting and the Environment used around him focuses on his profession and the posture also shows the confidence in the subject. 

In this picture, a depth of field is created by placing the subject at the bottom intersection in the rule of thirds and placing the subject in the middle ground, while the background and the foreground is blurred. 

In this picture, the Rule of thirds composition is used very well emphasizing on the cart in the foreground and the house in the background.  

In this picture, the landscape is the subject but also the way the natural light is captured, really enhances the entire photograph focusing on the beautiful sea. 

Here, as a cabbage leaf is the subject, the sharpness of the photograph really  highlights the smooth veins of the cabbage leaf and the top lighting created a downward flow of movement and also creates emphasis at the top of the photograph.