Edward Weston – 1886-1958

Weston started his photographic career making “pictorial” pictures, imitative of Impressionist paintings, but by 1915 he began to make sharply focused, straightforward photographs and, in conjunction with this, formulated an entire aesthetic theory of photography. He developed a style of great purity and directness, always using a large-format camera, never enlarging negatives, and never cropping them. His influence over 20th century American photography was profound.