Weston or Adams

BOBBYCTKR · Jan 23, 2011

I have always liked E. Weston more than A. Adams. I find AA to be somewhat boring ( gasp. Did I just commit a sacrilege ?), whereas Weston's photographs have always held my attention. To me Adams is superior in technique but Weston has more heart and Weston will always be my guy.
I see Weston as Socrates and Adams as Plato; Weston as L DaVinci and Adams as Michaelangelo. And my personal preference has always been favourable towards the former.
Disclaimer: This post is totally my opinion and personal preference. Does not mean others have to agree to it and no disrespect intended towards anyone.
Cheers.

juan · Jan 23, 2011

I would tend to favor Weston, too. But, I gained a different view of Adams when I got a chance to see a collection of Adams prints held by a private collector. It included many prints that were made at about the same time as the negative. These images are much smaller and more subtle that the later versions Adams made. So, he was able to change his vision and interpretation during his career, which is something positive.
juan

jelke · Jan 23, 2011

weston or adams, for me brett weston is the best

Jeff Kubach · Jan 23, 2011

I like them both, but right now I favor Ansel Adams.

Jeff

Ian Grant · Jan 23, 2011

Have to favour Weston, I think there's more of him, his soul, in his work. I've seen a lot of Adams work and some I found quite disappointing.

Ian

ghostcount · Jan 23, 2011

Weston FTW

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Jan 23, 2011

I cant forget some of the Ansel , some of the Weston photographs. They are being engraved in my mind.
But Westons nudes are superior to all Adams photography. I prefer men to mountains.

Umut

mabman · Jan 23, 2011

Generally I favour Weston, although I find Adams' "Moonrise, Hernandez" to be quite striking.

Beyond that, I've been pleasantly surprised by some of Adams' 35mm and (I think) 4x5 people work (many taken in Los Angeles - can be searched via www.lapl.org and the "photo collections" search drop-down) - many informal, some PJ-like. His national parks work I find very formal and stuffy, but the smaller format work brings out another side.

michaelbsc · Jan 23, 2011

Mustafa Umut Sarac said:
... I prefer men to mountains.

Umut

Well said.

PVia · Jan 23, 2011

Photography is not a contest.

I don't mean that to sound harsh, it's just that when two artists are being considered head to head it's not a simple thing to compare and it's not fair to compare. One may reverbrate more within you and that's a wonderful thing, but inevitably a thread like this...well, I don't know.

OTOH, a thread that asks something like "I don't get Alec Soth" and allows others their insight and opinions can be an incrediby fulfilling learning experience.

Or maybe I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning...

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Jan 23, 2011

Good morning PVia , have a nice weekend.

Chazzy · Jan 23, 2011

If I had to choose, I would choose Edward Weston.

lxdude · Jan 23, 2011

mabman said:
Generally I favour Weston, although I find Adams' "Moonrise, Hernandez" to be quite striking.

Beyond that, I've been pleasantly surprised by some of Adams' 35mm and (I think) 4x5 people work (many taken in Los Angeles - can be searched via www.lapl.org and the "photo collections" search drop-down) - many informal, some PJ-like. His national parks work I find very formal and stuffy, but the smaller format work brings out another side.

I don't know about all of it but the LA work that I have seen was 120 square.

photo8x10 · Jan 23, 2011

I prefer and choose Weston, even if Adams help me to discover the large format with his books, after I saw a Weston exhibition and read the daybooks, everythings change in my mind...

yeknom02 · Jan 23, 2011

I prefer Weston as an artist and Adams as a professor. Adams has done wonders teaching me about photography.

Ian Grant · Jan 23, 2011

Mustafa Umut Sarac said:
I cant forget some of the Ansel , some of the Weston photographs. They are being engraved in my mind.
But Westons nudes are superior to all Adams photography. I prefer men to mountains.

Umut

it was Minor White who preferred men another superb photographer streets ahead of Adams. Weston was rather fond of his female models, put another way they were usually his lovers, sometimes wives

Ian

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Jan 23, 2011

Taking your wives pictures nude and put to the gallery 80 years ago. No different than amateur porn business today

ann · Jan 23, 2011

why does it have to be one or the other? utter than a tile of a thread to create interest.
I favor Edward's vegetables and find his nudes boring. Ansel has some very lovely work that has been forgotten with the focus being on "grand landscape".

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Jan 23, 2011

ann ,

Your still lifes are great.

Umut

Bob Carnie · Jan 23, 2011

plus one

jelke said:
weston or adams, for me brett weston is the best

ann · Jan 23, 2011

thanks, i believe you are referring to the sx-70 manipulations. How i miss that film. This isn't too far OT as Ansel did a lot of work for Polariod.

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Jan 23, 2011

ann ;

Yes , I agree. I saw his Hasselblad Sonnar BW polaroids and now I have two Sonnars. I watched Ruussian Travel Guide TV at Satellite Hotbird and there was a man from StPetersburg who won two times best florist of USSR award. They were talking about Dutch style and the red roses were apperared at the tv like kodachrome shots. I believe there is great artistic background at Ektachrome and Kodachrome.
I read that there was a woman colorist who managed the colors of famous technicolor films. And another interesting point was there were tremondous amount of lighting used at these films where artists faced with retina problems.
I dont know who were behind of colors of these kodak films , one person or a lots of person. I really want to learn that.

Umut

Chuck_P · Jan 23, 2011

ann said:
why does it have to be one or the other? utter than a tile of a thread to create interest.
I favor Edward's vegetables and find his nudes boring. Ansel has some very lovely work that has been forgotten with the focus being on "grand landscape".

Yes, why does it have to be one or the other?

Weston because of Weston and Adams because of Adams. I've seen both artist's work and was wowed equally. If there is a leaning in one direction, it would have to be Adams, because my photographic "craft" has improved exponentially because of him. I'm big on Adams because of what he's done for my photography, not because of his landscapes.

Wayne · Jan 23, 2011

Bob Dylan or Neil Young?

removed account4 · Jan 23, 2011

without both of them
we wouldn't be doing this today .. that said ...
i'm partial to gomez aadams, more then the others

Weston or Adams

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