Career+Breakdown

__**The Career of Edward Weston**__ Ed Weston is considered one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century. Weston began his career in Los Angeles working with Imogen Cunningham in 1920. It was with her that his creativity was able to thrive. The two would trade prints and critique each-others work.  In 1923 his career took a dramatic turn when he sailed to Mexico with his lover and student, Tina Modotti, and his oldest son Chandler. At the time modern art flourished in Mexico, there was a combination of native traditions, socialist ideals and European avant-garde trends. His work was greeted enthusiastically in Mexico and his style was changed drastically. Weston met Charis Wilson in 1934. Wilson was the 20-year-old daughter of an influential Carmel family and Weston’s model for his nude photos. Nude photography became his passion he shot Charis for almost a decade. He there learned about the true meaning of success in photography, “Ultimately success or failure in photographing people depends on the photographer's ability to understand his fellow man.” They became romantically involved and were married in 1939. They relocated to Santa Monica around the time of the Great Depression. Weston became the first photographer to receive the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1937. This allowed him to travel across the United States with Charis Wilson capturing large scale landscapes. Over this time he created 1,400 negatives. His visual approach also became expansive. He embraced spontaneity instead of his old methodical methods. During World War II he remained in Carmel creating environmental portraits and elaborate tableaux stagings. Weston lay down his camera in 1948 due to complications with Parkinson’s disease. After that he spent a decade collecting his works into volumes and publishing books on photography.