Weston Daybooks

I'm at the point in the Mexico volume where he sends his prints off to Guadalajara with friends of his, and sells 6 prints. After they return, he makes reprints of those he sold. It's never occurred to me that images have a "life". I can think of at least 5 images off the top of my head that I am extremely proud of, but yet they sit on a hard drive. Only one or two of those have been printed only once. I'm sure most people will read that statement and think "what? why?". But aside from revisiting the images infrequently on a screen, after I've photographed it, retouched it, and showed it to a few people or posted it to a forum or three, I forget about them and move on to the next image.

I think this portion of his book made me realize that "photography" isn't just about the current image, and I need to go back and get all those images that I'm proud of printed, and make them tangible. I realized that a photographic body of work isn't just one image, it's a whole "thing". I think about it as if Michelangelo sculpted David in pieces. One arm here, one leg there, and then put all the pieces in the box. It isn't until he attaches all the pieces to one another that the statue is made.

Christopher -- I've accumulated maybe 30 books on Weston, and find the Daybooks and California and the West among the best. Another one that goes well with them is Through Another Lens by Charis Wilson (Weston's second wife) who wrote the text of California and the West. Some of Weston's sons and at least one grandson have added to his authentic bibliography. Search YouTube for many videos on Weston

I've nearly reached the end of vol 1, and I'm not sure what to make of Weston. Initially I was interested, but these last few chapters have kind of made me sit back and think... "ego much?"

But then he states something like:

The artist is considered the most impractical of mortals. Quite contrary, I would say, perhaps in personal defence, he is the most practical. Because he will not recognize as important much of the complicated machinery and useless superfluities of average life, the artist is damned as a visionary - which is true enough. He attempts to travel a straight line to his goal, cutting all possible corners, instead of deviating in tortuous spirals. for his contempt of custom as ordained by his peers, the ventured goal may end in gaol, it being incorrect, even naughty, to overlook "keep off the grass," though the grass be withered or dead."

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...and it really illustrates that he suffered from much the same problems as every artist before him, and every artist after him. We have a vision of our creation and we, or at least I, get extremely frustrated when the path from conception to production end's up in a spaghetti model.

And then there is the whole toilet bowl series of photos, and how much pomp surrounded them, as well as the large amount of self criticism. Here are his friends, raving about the fact that the toilet bowl photos were the best that he had ever produced, and yet he beats himself up because he didn't remove the seat, or crop it out in camera, and 1/4" of it is viewable in the print. And then he goes on with an internal argument of whether it should or shouldn't be there. The whole thing is confusing because A.) it's a photo of a toilet, and B.) is it actually about the toilet, or is it about the skill of getting the correct exposure and lighting the bowl so that it appears as three dimensional on the paper? It all makes me wonder if I've been focusing on the wrong things when photographing.

It is C -- art in progress. Ed was an artist. He is sharing his thought processes, worries and concerns. It takes a person who is confiendent enough in themselves to open up with this type of honesty. It can come across as ego...but he is giving us something an egotist would never give up...a piece of himself.

For Ed, photography was not a hobby, a way to spend the time, or have one's ego stroked.

Vaughn said:

It is C -- art in progress. Ed was an artist. He is sharing his thought processes, worries and concerns. It takes a person who is confiendent enough in themselves to open up with this type of honesty. It can come across as ego...but he is giving us something an egotist would never give up...a piece of himself.

For Ed, photography was not a hobby, a way to spend the time, or have one's ego stroked.

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YES ! WITHOUT THE TRENDY BURDEN OF NARCISSISM AND "LOOKING WITHIN".

Loved the Daybooks, re-read them again after I found a copy in the local library. Also read Charis's memoir. EW had a wonderful career and life. When you are a genius it's OK to be a narcissist. I also loved details of his process, which included shooting at noon in bright sun and shooting wide open with his Graflex.

Boy this second volume, California, is full of insight. He's written at least four things that really resonated. I can't remember exactly which page they are on, or what their exact wording was but these are the general ideas.

- Only those with the "key" can see form.
- Not being true to himself artistically is not only an injustice to him, but everyone around him.
- Photographers should capture people how they are, instead of how they THINK they are.
- It's not about being better than someone else, its about being better than you were yesterday.

I think these sentiments transcend into every day life, especially for me.

very interesting discussion - and christopher you haven't focused on the wrong thing, just evolving.

i'd say use what inspires and moves you forward - the rest - ehhh!

ChristopherCoy said:

Boy this second volume, California, is full of insight. He's written at least four things that really resonated. I can't remember exactly which page they are on, or what their exact wording was but these are the general ideas.

- Only those with the "key" can see form.
- Not being true to himself artistically is not only an injustice to him, but everyone around him.
- Photographers should capture people how they are, instead of how they THINK they are.
- It's not about being better than someone else, its about being better than you were yesterday.

I think these sentiments transcend into every day life, especially for me.

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Everybody's entitled to take what they want from Weston's Daybooks, but my feeling is that one is reading words of a man who is reflecting FOR himself, not addressing us or offering teachings.

We often fail to recognize that Daybooks were written by a man who was sure of his exceptional artistry and believed himself the only rival of Stieglitz.. He wasn't teaching anything, had almost no interest in other photographers save for women.

Weston did occasionally write for amateurs in Minicam Magazine ...my mother read them...I tossed them when cleaning out her home.

"...astrology was no doubt once quite orthodox, just as vaccination is now. And someday vaccination will be generally regarded as a superstition comparable to witchcraft."

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Apparently Weston was a psychic as well. Wonder if he ever predicted digital.

There is no mystery to EW. He communicated directly with his work and without fake self-analysis or regrets. My guess is that he didn't talk much about his images, beyond incidental tech observations. He was recognised for exceptional work long before the work most of us appreciate today.

I doubt that today's Westons are photographers...perhaps they're musicians or seen on Vimeo.

jtk said:

There is no mystery to EW. He communicated directly with his work and without fake self-analysis or regrets. My guess is that he didn't talk much about his images, beyond incidental tech observations. He was recognised for exceptional work long before the work most of us appreciate today.

I doubt that today's Westons are photographers...perhaps they're musicians or seen on Vimeo.

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jtk said:

Everybody's entitled to take what they want from Weston's Daybooks, but my feeling is that one is reading words of a man who is reflecting FOR himself, not addressing us or offering teachings.

We often fail to recognize that Daybooks were written by a man who was sure of his exceptional artistry and believed himself the only rival of Stieglitz.. He wasn't teaching anything, had almost no interest in other photographers save for women.

Weston did occasionally write for amateurs in Minicam Magazine ...my mother read them...I tossed them when cleaning out her home.

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RE Minicam https://www.photo.net/discuss/threads/minicam-magazine.272024/ My mother subscribed and home processed B&W and Agfa/Anscochrome.

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Bo...am+photography&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-image29