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Edward Weston

Edward Weston Quotes

Photographer

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Famous Edward Weston Quotes

“Modern Art is being used to index me. Surely it was a source but photographers have influenced Modern Art quite as deeply as they have been influenced, maybe more. Anyway painters don't have a copyright on M. A. We were all born in the same upheaval.”

Has BeensArtUsedBornModernSourceArt IsPhotographerPainterModernismCopyrightModern ArtUpheaval
Book:EW:100: centennial essays in honor of Edward Weston
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“In common with other artists the photographer wants his finished print to convey to others his own response to his subject. In the fulfillment of this aim, his greatest asset is the directness of the process he employs. But this advantage can only be retained if he simplifies his equipment and technic to the minimum necessary, and keeps his approach from from all formula, art-dogma, rules and taboos. Only then can he be free to put his photographic sight to use in discovering and revealing the nature of the world he lives in.”

IfsWorldWantArtUseArtistProcessCommonSubjectsApproachAdvantageSightAimResponsePhotographerFinishedFulfillmentPrintAssetsFormulasDiscoveringDogmaMinimumEquipmentRevealingTabooSimplify
Book:Edward Weston on photography
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“I start with no preconceived idea - discovery excites me to focus - then rediscovery through the lens - final form of presentation seen on ground glass, the finished print previsioned completely in every detail of texture, movement, proportion, before exposure - the shutter's release automatically and finally fixes my conception, allowing no after manipulation - the ultimate end, the print, is but a duplication of all that I saw and felt through my camera.”

IdeasEndsFormFeltSawsFocusMovementPhotographyDiscoveryUltimateCamerasFinalsPhotographerGlassesDetailsFinishedReleaseProportionManipulationPrintAllowingConceptionLensesExposurePresentationTextureShuttersPreconceived IdeasRediscoveryDuplication
Book:Edward Weston on photography
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“Very often people looking at my pictures say, 'You must have had to wait a long time to get that cloud just right (or that shadow, or the light).' As a matter of fact, I almost never wait, that is, unless I can see that the thing will be right in a few minutes. But if I must wait an hour for the shadow to move, or the light to change, or the cow to graze in the other direction, then I put up my camera and go on, knowing that I am likely to find three subjects just as good in the same hour.”

PeopleIfsLongI CanMatterFactsLightMovingThreeWaitingHoursKnowingMinutesSubjectsGoes OnPhotographyLong TimeShadowCamerasPhotographerCloudsCowsMatter Of Fact
Book:Edward Weston on photography
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“Arguments against photography ever being considered a fine art are: the element of chance which enters in, — finding things ready-made for a machine to record, and of course the mechanics of the medium. I say that chance enters into all branches of art.”

MayArtMadeRealityCoursesOpportunitySoundLinesChanceRecordsReadyFineElementsFindingsPhotographyMusicianArgumentMachinesPhotographerMediumsPainterCombinationPhrasesBranchesMelodyTrendsCompositionMechanicSurroundingsFine Arts
Author:Edward Weston
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“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.”

KnowsLittlesLongEnoughFactsUseLostPiecesInformationMastersGoes OnBecomingPaperPhotographyCapacityPhotographerEndlessMediumsStayingEquipmentCagesLensesOne PieceGadgetsMazesSquirrelsDevelopersBecoming Lost
Author:Edward Weston
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“Now one does not think during creative work: any more than one thinks when driving a car. One has a background of years — learning — unlearning— success — failure — dreaming — thinking — experience — back it goes — farther back than one's ancestors: all this, — then the moment of creation, the focussing of all into the moment. So I can make — "without thought" — fifteen carefully-considered negatives one every fifteen minutes, — given material with as many possibilities.”

ThinkingYearsDoeI CanMomentsDreamEyeGivenCreativeInfluenceMinutesCarCreationPossibilityMaterialsPhotographerDrivingBackgroundsThis LifeFifteenCreative WorkSuccess Failure
Author:Edward Weston
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“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.”

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Author:Edward Weston
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“The prejudice many photographers have against colour photography comes from not thinking of colour as form. You can say things with colour that can't be said in black and white... Those who say that colour will eventually replace black and white are talking nonsense. The two do not compete with each other. They are different means to different ends.”

ThinkingMeanArtSaidTwoDifferentEndsFormBlackWhiteTalkingCreativityPhotographyPrejudicePhotographerColourNonsenseBlack And WhiteTalking Nonsense
Author:Edward Weston
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