Edward Weston Quotes

[abraxas]

I like Weston's work although I think some of it is overly simple. Generally though, I can see why he's held in high regard.

Edward Weston

“Photography to the amateur is recreation, to the professional it is work, and hard work too, no matter how pleasurable it may be.”


“Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual.”


“Photography suits the temper of this age -- of active bodies and minds. It is a perfect medium for one whose mind is teeming with ideas, imagery, for a prolific worker who would be slowed down by painting or sculpting, for one who sees quickly and acts decisively, accurately.”


“My own eyes are no more than scouts on a preliminary search, for the camera's eye may entirely change my idea.”


“I was extravagant in the matter of cameras, anything photographic, I had to have the best. But that was to further my work. In most things I have gone along with the plainest or without.”


“I have been photographing our toilet, that glossy enameled receptacle of extraordinary beauty. Here was every sensuous curve of the ''human figure divine'' but minus the imperfections. Never did the Greeks reach a more significant consummation to their culture, and it somehow reminded me, in the glory of its chaste convulsions and in its swelling, sweeping, forward movement of finely progressing contours, of the Victory of Samothrace.”


“I see no reason for recording the obvious.”


“There is nothing like a Bach fugue to remove me from a discordant moment... only Bach hold up fresh and strong after repeated playing. I can always return to Bach when the other records weary me.”


“Now to consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk. Such rules and laws are deduced from the accomplished fact; they are the products of reflection...”

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[craig]

My favorite of all your quote posts.

Love & Bass

[patrickt]

My favorite Edward Weston quote was referring to his portrait of President Orozco of Mexico. It was late in the afternoon, the light was failing, he had a slow lens, and the picture had a bit of blur. Edward Weston said it was, "...the definition is not perfect, but pracitcally satisfactory." It's a concept more people should consider. The entire sentence is. "Holding the Graflex,--there was no time for working with a tripod, I could not stop down beyond 6.3, so the definition is not perfect, but practically satisfactory."

[abraxas]

I think with there being so few quotes in this thread I'm paying more attention to each of them.

This one is striking to me:
“Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual.”

[ksmattfish]

Some more....

The photograph isolates and perpetuates a moment of time: an important and revealing moment, or an unimportant and meaningless one, depending upon the photographer's understanding of his subject and mastery of his process.

I would say to any artist: 'Don't be repressed in your work, dare to experiment, consider any urge, if in a new direction all the better.'

The photographer’s most important and likewise most difficult task is not learning to manage his camera, or to develop, or to print. It is learning to see photographically – that is, learning to see his subject matter in terms of the capacities of his tools and processes, so that he can instantaneously translate the elements and values in a scene before him into the photograph he wants to make.

The fact is that relatively few photographers ever master their medium. Instead they allow the medium to master them and go on an endless squirrel cage chase from new lens to new paper to new developer to new gadget, never staying with one piece of equipment long enough to learn its full capacities, becoming lost in a maze of technical information that is of little or no use since they don't know what to do with it.

When subject matter is forced to fit into preconceived patterns, there can be no freshness of vision. Following rules of composition can only lead to a tedious repetition of pictorial cliches

...camera and darkroom manipulations are a technique, like oil, pencil, or watercolor; and, above all, the means of expression of human personality.

[abraxas]

"...camera and darkroom manipulations are a technique, like oil, pencil, or watercolor; and, above all, the means of expression of human personality. "

I really like this one. -Thanks Matt!

[JC1220]

What exactly do you find "simple" about Weston's work?

[abraxas]

What exactly do you find "simple" about Weston's work?

Most of his landscape work is impressive. However I feel some of his landscapes are not quite as intriguing as I like.

[JC1220]

I understand not every photograph of a photographer will be intriguing to a person. I guess I have never heard anyone refer to Weston's work as simple, considering he was one of the most complete seer's of his time, and of the majority of contemporaries.

Simple photographs remind of Michael Kenna.

[JC1220]

Other Weston Quotes:

"I have always held that there is too much talk about art - not enough work."

"So why bother about art - a word so abused it is almost obsolete."

"Good composition is only the strongest way of seeing the subject. It cannot be taught because, like all creative effort, it is a matter of personal growth."