Edward Henry Weston - My world, my view.

I have been asked to research the characteristics of photography by exploring the works of professional practitioners. I started by looking at the works of Edward Henry Weston. i first decided to look at his biography and some of his work to get an idea of what kind of photographer he was. I found out he was born march 24th, 1886 in Highland Park, Illinois and was considered One of the masters of 20th century photography. From what i read it seemed weston helped take photography out of the victorian age and make it modern. he said he wanted "to make the commonplace unusual" and looking at other photography of that time i can really see how he applied that to his work. To me his work, that i have seen so far, makes the common place beautiful, to stop for a moment and really see something, almost outside the subject itself.

I learned that Weston would capture a nearly over exposed photo, and then altered by hand processing the film in a diluted developer solution. Then he would inspect the negatives and develop the right balance of highlights and shadows.

One thing i noticed is that all of his work is in black and white, at first i thought this was because of the time period, but then i found out colour photography was around in 1861. I think most of his work is in black and white because most photographs are better in black and white, and by eliminating the colour, you are taking away factors that could clash or distract from the focal point.

One of the photographs i found is called Nude (1927). A lot of Westons work were of nudes but i found this one particularly interesting.

I don't think this image has a focal point as the woman's body position takes your eyes around the photo. the bottom of this image is very dark in contrast to the upper body, that almost matches the colour of the background. I think the colour of the background works well because it allows you to focus on shape of the woman's body. The bottoms of the feet are very dark in comparison to the rest of the body which add a very interesting touch to the image over all. 

i think this image works so well because of the use of shape. Female bodies have always been important in many artists works, i think, because of the rounded and natural shapes of there bodies. The pose in this image is very interesting because although the subject is crouching down the twist in the body tells us that she is turned with her arms stretched upwards or above her head, i like the contrast in that pose. I think the body looks almost like a sculptor.

i also like the definition and detail in her feet compared to the rest of her body, as you can see more lines and veins, i think this has something to do with the exposure technique used when developing the image. that might also be why there is thick lines/shadows on the souls of her feed compared to the knee's or folds in the legs.

I also see that this image fills almost all of the frame, which i thought worked so well because it didn't take your focus away from the subject. but then i found another nude done in 1936.

 I found this very interesting because i feel very aware of the negative space around the subject, compared to the one above, which now, makes it look very close up. the sand she is lying on also, to me, looks like paper because of the highlights and shadows in the sand. i think that is the point of negative space, to make you aware of it, it not only grabs my attention but it adds an element of interest. The use of negative space in this image changes the mood and i guess story of this image compared to the first one, to me it adds a sense of loneliness. I have always seen negative space as drawing attention to the subject itself, but that is not the case in this image, as i said it makes me more aware of the space around the subject, it is very interesting to see how negative space effects an image and how it can add visual weight. Because the space is not just one solid colour i think it adds more of an interest as you can see texture. It is defiantly something to think about when creating my own images. 

Shell 1927

The first thing i thought when i looked at this image was just how beautiful this photograph is. It looks like a sculptor, and i really like how he has brought this image of a shell to life with the contrasting colour of the black background and the light shell full of detail. This image was one of the first to come up as his close up's of food, shells and rocks are his most talked about photographs. I think in this image and his other close up's you can really see his unique vision. I think this is called Macro photography and it is something i have always liked in photography, the closer you look at something the more detail you can see within it and i think, thats what really brings something to life. i like that the object has become less significant but the shapes and lines are more important in the frame which i think is the essence to this kind of photography.  The Picture feels very balanced because of the composition, the rule of thirds. 

i really enjoyed looking at Weston's work, his work is really eye opening to what you can do with photography and what you can portray in an image, obviously  i am a complete beginner to photography, but i feel that his work is very inspiring and really excites me about the possibilities within photography.