Edward Weston

Edward Weston was an American photographer and one of the most important figures in twentieth century photography. Born in Illinois in 1886, he began in a soft, dreamy pictorial style before turning decisively toward sharp focus and precise detail. He became famous for making the ordinary look extraordinary, photographing peppers, shells, and nudes so that their forms take on a sculptural, almost abstract beauty.

He helped found Group f/64, a circle of West Coast photographers devoted to crisp, unmanipulated images. His close-ups and his stark landscapes of the California coast and the desert are landmarks of the medium. Weston insisted that a photograph should be fully seen before the shutter clicked, and his exacting vision shaped how later generations understood the art of the camera.