Influence

 Weston received his first camera in 1902, a Bull’s-Eye #2, at age 16 from his father and this sparked his interest in photography. In 1912 he met Margrethe Mather and she became his studio assistant and Weston’s most frequent model for the next decade he called her, “the first important woman in my life.” In 1915 he visited an exhibition at San Francisco that was showing modern art this exhibit made Weston dissatisfied with his personal work and was then driven to begin to involve abstract forms and became very experimental. In 1922 Weston travelled to New York where he met esteemed photographers such as Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Charles Sheeler just to name a few. Weston was encouraged by these photographers to continue to explore modernism. The same year Weston also visited ARMCO Steel Plant in Ohio, the photographs he took here marked a turning point in his career. These pictures were a new style to him and influenced him to have emphasis on abstract form while using a sharper resolution of detail.  In 1923 Weston made the move to Mexico City with his lover Tina Modotti- an Italian born actress. While here he was able to explore his work through richly textured still lives, sharp focused portraits and abstractions. Many important nude photos were taken during this period where Modotti posed as his model; all of the nude photos Weston took were inspired by Modotti. The collection visually tells the tale of his passion for her. "the camera should be used for a recording of life, for rendering the very substance and quintessence of the thing itself, whether it be polished steel or palpitating flesh." Edward Weston Katie Prud'homme
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