Edward Weston, Photographer

Deborah Parker

Art 123-2

Professor Mainville

23 January 2008

Edward Weston

Born Edward Henry Weston in Illinois on March 24 , 1886 , the artist Edward Weston is acknowledged by his family , his colleagues and the collective art world as the most influential photographer of the twentieth century . Weston 's significant impact and influence in photography lies in his ability to photograph landscapes , portraits sculptures , and other images which evoke a certain preciousness and sublimity

The photographer 's rise to prominence began when he was given his first camera

- a Kodak Bull 's Eye 2 - by his father at the age of sixteen Weston 's first pictures were of his aunt 's farm and the different parks in Chicago , were he was raised . He proceeded to indulge his interest in taking pictures from then on , and honed his skills by studying at the Illinois College of Photography (Gale . The artist moved to California and took a job as a roaming portrait photographer who who took pictures of individuals and families within their own homes . Weston was later on able to work in his own portrait studio . The photographer moved from one city to the next travelling to New York , San Fransisco , and Mexico City . He was able to explore his skills and his craft by taking pictures extensively across and within the cities he has travelled . His particular talents grew increasingly apparent in the years to come , and Weston was eventually able to establish his reputation as a photographer

Weston 's talent is acknowledged and revered by equally prominent figures in photography such as Ansel Adams . The fellow photographer regards the genius of Edward Weston by pronouncing , His work illuminates man 's inner journey toward perfection of the spirit (Adams . The said illumination which is evoked in many , or perhaps all of Weston 's photographs is evident for one , in his carefully composed images of the female human body in the nude . Weston 's intimate photographs of the naked human body is able to evoke poetry instead of pornography departing from the malicious or the sensual , instead gravitating towards the sublime and the divine

Ansel Adam 's remark on Weston 's talent is not limited to his work on nude human bodies , but to portraits , landscape , and inanimate structures and objects as well . From photographs of Abandoned Shoes (1937 ) and an Artichoke (1930 , to that of a Glass and Lily (1939 , an Eggplant (1929 , a Pelican on Sand (1942 ) to the seeming mundane triviality of a common garden Pepper (1930 . Despite appearing to be muted in black and white , Weston heightens our appreciation for the said subject or pieces by turning them into visual poetry . Weston affords the subjects in his printed images a quiet preciousness , and breathes beauty , life and a story into them

The extensive work Edward Weston was able to create and contribute to photography , the art world , and to humanity in general is perhaps best articulated by the British journalist Jeanette Winterson . She wrote of art 's capacity...