Edward Weston (1) (1886–1958)

Edward Weston was born in Highland Park, Illinois, in 1886, and began his career as a door-to-door portrait photographer in 1906. After a spell in Mexico City during the early 1920s--where he ran a studio with Tina Modotti--he moved to California and commenced the work for which he is most famous: close-ups of nature, nudes and landscapes. This volume celebrates Weston's nudes, of which Hilton Kramer wrote: “To Weston's eye... the landscape of the human body was an unending revelation of forms both voluptuous and abstract. His genius as an artist lay in his ability to respond to both with equal passion.”… (mais)

This is one of my favorite photography books -- it has taught me so much. With Weston's own words accompanying his photographs, one gets a sense of his work ethic, what inspired him, and his ideas on art. I refer to both the text and the images in this work when I need inspiration. It has been a big help in photography school, too.

Favorite quotes:
"dare to experiment"
"I still had the pepper which caused me a week's work. I had decided I could go no further with it, yet something kept me from taking it to th ekitchen, the end of all good peppers."
"It has been suggested that I am a cannibal to eat my models after a masterpiece. But I rather like the idea that they become a part of me, enrich my blood as well as my vision."… (mais)