Brett Weston seemed destined from birth to become a great photographer: Born in Los Angeles in 1911, he was the second son of photographer Edward Weston and also had a close artistic relationship to him (Brett Weston Archive, 2019). Edward removed Brett from school in 1925 and took him to a trip to Mexico, where the then 13-year-old boy became his father’s apprentice. Being surrounded by artists such as Frida Kahlo or Diego Reivera, it’s no surprise that Mexico was the place where Brett Weston began taking photographs (Brett Weston Archive, 2019).
In his later career, Brett Weston’s style “was characterized by high contrast, abstract imagery” (Brett Weston Archive, 2019). His subjects included plant leaves, tangled kelp or knotted roots. He had a unique sense of composition and form, always appreciating close-up transformations of objects into elegant patterns and black-and-white contrast (Brett Weston Archive, 2019).
The photograph I aimed at recreating is “Lily Stalks” which Weston took in 1925. It shows a close-up of the stalks of a lily in front of black background. The five stalks are bundled at the bottom of the image but seem to grow further apart at the top. The flower itself is not visible.
The colour in the picture is very soft, without any hard shadows. Even though the lower part of the stalks looks a little brighter, the light is quite similar in all parts of the photograph. Details are recognizable, even in the shadowed areas of the stalks.
I think Weston chose this composition and lighting to reduce the lily stalks to their purest form, using the high contrast between the black background and the lighted flower.
Brett Weston Archive (2019) Brett Weston. Available at: http://www.brettwestonarchive.com/brettweston (Accessed: 12 December 2019).
photo: Weston, B. (1925) Lily Stalks. Available at: http://www.brettwestonarchive.com/images/lily-stalks (Accessed: 07 December 2019).
Documentation of MEDI512 "Experiment" 