Edward Weston

                In his essay, Edward Weston is trying to prove that photography is a credible form of art. Photography is unique and unlike any other form of art; not anyone can master the skill of good photography. Weston feels as if photography is too often compared to painting because painting is an older form of art that has more familiarity. Weston argues that painting and photography are not the same – photography is more realistic portrayal of art.

                Photography creates the most realistic interpretation of a subject since it actually captures and records its subject at an exact moment of its life on Earth. This is unlike a painting since that is an artist’s interpretation of a subject.  There are no other art forms that can capture the real details and features of a subject like a photograph can. Weston quoted Vincent Van Gogh saying, “A feeling for things in themselves is much more important than a sense of the pictorial”.  That is important because in Van Gogh’s time there were no cameras, and the ‘pictorial’ Van Gogh is referring to in his quote is art like a painting. But what Van Gogh is saying is that actually seeing an object is more informative than just a painting interpretation, and what he did not know then is that is what photography would come to do. A photograph captures its subject in exact detail, and it captures all of its true emotions.

                In the early days of photography, photographers did not have a real sense of how to properly use the medium, and they used an approach called ‘photo-painting’. People were too preoccupied with making a photo art that they did not realize that it is a photo’s natural unaltered rawness that makes it art. The reason that a photo could never be like a painting, according to Weston, is because of ‘the nature of the recording process’ and ‘the nature of the image’. No other art medium is captured like a photograph. With the push of a button, the camera instantly captures one moment in time, one that can never be exactly replicated again.

                Weston believes that the best way to make the most of the art of photography is to think ‘photographically’. The photographer has to know what kind of shot he wants, and compose it accordingly. He needs to adjust things like the camera angle, lighting, and exposure in order to get the result he wants. By thinking photographically and adjusting the shots composition, the photographer is able to create the emotion and feeling he feels will best portray the subject. The photographer is then becoming the artist because they are composing a photograph to best display the true emotion of a subject.