Edward Weston
[Photographer, b. 1886, Highland Park, Illinois, d. 1958, Wildcat Hill, California.]
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 clichés.
My work is never intellectual. I never make a negative unless emotionally moved by my subject.
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.
To be without [a camera] (to be what one might call camera-less) must be like losing a leg or
better an eye.
(To Alfred Stieglitz, who had written him: “For the first time in 55 years I am without a camera.”)
I shall let no chance pass to record interesting abstractions, but I feel definite in my belief that the approach to photography is through realism—and its most difficult approach.
(1924)
My true program is summed up in one word: life. I expect to photograph anything suggested by that word which appeals to me.
As great a picture can be made as one’s mental capacity—no greater. Art cannot be taught; it must be self-inspiration, though the imagination may be fired and the ambition and work directed by the advice and example of others.
The lens reveals more than the eye sees. Then why not use this potentiality to advantage?
(1928)
