“Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual.” Edward Weston
This is sure to be the first post of many on the topic of Edward Weston. If the name is unfamiliar to you - shame on you! Haha, seriously if you haven't heard of him you should check him out. Weston is considered to be the most influential photographer of the twentieth century. Now I cannot tell you how accurate this statement is but I can tell you my own personal experience, so sit back, make a cuppa and let me tell you a story....
I cannot tell you when I knew I wanted to be a photographer, it was just something built in me, that just seemed completely natural. But what I can tell you about is the time it become an actualisation. I cannot tell you my age, because when I look back all I can see is the ray of light - but I am ahead of myself. I was a young girl I believe myself to be around 10 but this could be completely inaccurate. I am at an art gallery that is holding a photographic exhibition, I think on a school excursion - I was wandering around making notes of the photographs...when for the first time...I saw...Pepper no 30 by Edward Weston. I stopped in my tracks, stared with my mouth open for a very long time and excuse the cliche (but get used to it I'm full of them!) it was like a ray of light was shining on it and I could hear angels, ok I may have a tendency to over exaggerate, I admit I am abit of a drama queen but this is no embellishment. My life changed from this moment onwards. I stared at the piece for so long, I stepped back and looked, I got close up with my nose almost touching and I looked. You may go and google this image now and you may see it reproduced in books but it is not the same by a long long stretch. The image I saw in the gallery that day was a print done by Edward Weston himself, even at that age I remember the sensuality of it, the smoothness of the pepper, the curves...how to me it was reminiscent of a human body. The image seemed to have a silvery glow. The specifics of that day are so hazy, maybe it was a dream, either way that day and Edward Weston cemented my love of photography and started my long obsession with who is considered to be the most influential photographer of the twentieth century.
P.S I'm currently reading "Through Another Lens - My Years with Edward Weston" by Charis Wilson. They where together for 11 years and she was the subject of alot of his most famous nudes. I'm enjoying seeing him from another perspective and I'm sure to post more on this at a later date :)
This is sure to be the first post of many on the topic of Edward Weston. If the name is unfamiliar to you - shame on you! Haha, seriously if you haven't heard of him you should check him out. Weston is considered to be the most influential photographer of the twentieth century. Now I cannot tell you how accurate this statement is but I can tell you my own personal experience, so sit back, make a cuppa and let me tell you a story....
I cannot tell you when I knew I wanted to be a photographer, it was just something built in me, that just seemed completely natural. But what I can tell you about is the time it become an actualisation. I cannot tell you my age, because when I look back all I can see is the ray of light - but I am ahead of myself. I was a young girl I believe myself to be around 10 but this could be completely inaccurate. I am at an art gallery that is holding a photographic exhibition, I think on a school excursion - I was wandering around making notes of the photographs...when for the first time...I saw...Pepper no 30 by Edward Weston. I stopped in my tracks, stared with my mouth open for a very long time and excuse the cliche (but get used to it I'm full of them!) it was like a ray of light was shining on it and I could hear angels, ok I may have a tendency to over exaggerate, I admit I am abit of a drama queen but this is no embellishment. My life changed from this moment onwards. I stared at the piece for so long, I stepped back and looked, I got close up with my nose almost touching and I looked. You may go and google this image now and you may see it reproduced in books but it is not the same by a long long stretch. The image I saw in the gallery that day was a print done by Edward Weston himself, even at that age I remember the sensuality of it, the smoothness of the pepper, the curves...how to me it was reminiscent of a human body. The image seemed to have a silvery glow. The specifics of that day are so hazy, maybe it was a dream, either way that day and Edward Weston cemented my love of photography and started my long obsession with who is considered to be the most influential photographer of the twentieth century.
P.S I'm currently reading "Through Another Lens - My Years with Edward Weston" by Charis Wilson. They where together for 11 years and she was the subject of alot of his most famous nudes. I'm enjoying seeing him from another perspective and I'm sure to post more on this at a later date :)
Imagine what he could've done if Photoshop had been invented.
ReplyDelete