Unit 57: Photography and Photographic

Practice Research of other

photographers work

Photographer: Edward Weston• Edward Weston 1886 – 1958He was described as an early gifted

photographer as he was fascinated with photography from an early age of 16. He was born and raised in Chicago but moved to California when he was old enough and became part of the School Of Photography, he was considered a major exponent. However the school looked at the of paintings in photographs and so he felt this limited the things he could do, so he became devoted to taking realistic images.

• He became one of the most famous landscape photographers for his work taken around his home Chicago.

• In his photos he tended to exclude some light, movement and atmosphere so that he could concentrate on revealing the object in its ‘deepest moment of perception’

Examples of photographsDunes, Oceano1936

Tomato Field, Big Sur 1937

Lake Van Norden,1937 Janitzio, Patzcuaro, 1926

Lake Tenaya, 1937• In this image it shows how the mountains

look with sun on and then the opposite one with shadows on. It makes the image seem like its spilt into day and night. I think Edward Weston has took the picture this far away so that we can see the height of the mountains in the water. This is a long shot and zoomed out so he can capture everything using the rule of thirds technique. We see a massive amount of the sky with clouds and then all of the mountains and the big lake. He has taken the picture slight off centre to the mountains so we see the split between them closer to the left side of the picture. On the lighter mountain It looks like silhouettes of people or trees casting back onto the rocky mountain then on the other side all the dark shadows and trees all blend into the mountain. We can also see right in the background just how far back the mountains go and keep going I think this is why Edward Weston shot the mountains and made the gap towards the left so he could capture all the landscape behind too.

Composition• This looks like Edward Weston has stood very

far away because of the whole massive lake we can see, he looks like he's done this because he couldn’t get any closer or maybe he dint want to cut out any of the big hills. He has chosen to include some things that are closer to him, I think its funny that he’s left the horse in but I think he might of wanted to do that so viewers thought about why he might of. He hasn’t just zoomed in to get the big hill he has kept the three main objects in, the sky the hills and the lake then where he’s standing taking the picture. He chosen to include where the lake ends and lots of decking which looks tiny from where the pictures taken. The image is in black and white so this makes the hills stand out and the mist on the lake give the picture atmosphere. If Weston has stood further back we would be able to see if there were more horses maybe a filed full and all these hills are part of a farm. We would be able to see where the decking went and if there was anything there like a house. We would be able to see a bit more of the hill maybe how long it went on for. Because of all the elements in the image we aren't specifically meant to concentrate on one thing I think he’s kept a lot in so that the image is full of questions and gives a bit of everything that he could see.

Tomales Bay 1937

Techniques used• The shitter speed in this photo looks very

fast because I can see all the definition of the trees and the fences. Even though the picture is back and white you can see which way the sun is coming from because of the shadows from the trees, it makes this part of the picture looks much brighter because of it. This picture has lots of elements in it and so much going on but it works because its all trees and grass and the height of the hills make the picture look bigger and like it has more depth. The style Edward Weston always uses is he includes a lot in the image he doesn’t just focus on one object he makes sure he gets a bit of everything in. In his images he seems to have one dark side and one light. I think he might do this purposely so that the sun cats over one part and the other side is darker.

Eel River Ranch 1937

Strengths & WeaknessesIn this image Edward Weston has used the rule of thirds. We can see the dark sky then the clouds and the mountains in the bottom. This is different to his normal work because its very plain and simple it doesn’t have lots of elements and in this photo the main object I think he has focused on in the cloud in the middle, which stands out against the other dark colours. A weakness in this photo is that I don’t think it shows enough of the mountains maybe he wanted to do this but the layers are equal. He may of done this because he liked the shapes and colours of the sky more though, because it looks very dark so maybe the mountain would of just looked to dark. It can influence my work because if I used the rule of thirds I wouldn’t just make thing even I might make the layer I liked best bigger. I think also because his work is black and white it would influence me to maybe try that technique out because it shows of the different contrasts and shadows which colour doesn’t always pick out.