Down on the Farm - Art Gallery of Alberta

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramPhotography: The Modern View: Modernismin Photography continuedMany of these early modernist photographers believed in andpracticed what has been termed ‘straight’ photography which refersto the creation of an unmanipulated image. As expressed by EdwardWeston in 1923:(The camera) should be used for a recording of life, for rendering thevery substance and quintessence of the thing itself, whether it bepolished steel or palpitating flesh...I feel definite in my belief that theapproach to photography is through realism.Later photographers such as Ansel Adams, however, devoted a greatdeal of time and energy in both recording and developing theirimagery to achieve the desired affect.Edward WestonNautilus, 1927As early as 1922 Weston developed a techniquecalled ‘previsualizing’ where he worked with a viewcamera to conceive the final result and thencontrolled tones and textures through exposuresand development. This technique was advanced toa finely tuned and scientific means of technical andaesthetic control by Ansel Adams. By 1942 Adamshad developed previsualization into a means offormal control called the ‘zone system’. This methodof adjusting exposure and development allowedphotographers to replace the intuition Weston hadused with measurable and controllable values thatwere expressive and subjective rather than actualand allowed for a personal interpretation whichrealized the early pictorialists dream of having apainter’s finesse combined with the perfectionalistdesire to celebrate technology.Ansel AdamsThe Tetons and the Snake River, 1942Conscious formalism - a knowing wish to make aphotograph rather than record a time or hold amemory - is still a prime force in photographytoday.Aaron FalkenbergCut hay and bale, 2008Pigment printCollection of the artistAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca