minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Edward Weston was one of the most innovative and influential of American photographers and one of the masters of 20th century photography. Over the course of his 40-year career Weston photographed an expansive set of subjects, including landscapes, still life, nudes, portraits, genre scenes and even whimsical parodies.

The photograph offered here, Weston's iconic Pepper No. 30, is from a series of pepper studies made by the photographer over an intensive four days in the summer of 1930. Weston placed this pepper in a tin funnel, which provided not only a curving, undefinable background, but also refracted lighting. Pepper No. 30 was immediately one of Weston's favorite and most sought-after pepper studies.For Weston, this photograph represented a definitive step forward in the evolution of his work. In this month's Masters' we want to discuss how that happened, and why such a seemingly simple image could have gained and maintained the interest it has, over almost a century.

Review some of the support material linked below, and tell us what YOU think of this image. Some questions you may consider as you analyze the image:

- How has such a simple subject attracted this much attention and become a classic?
- What works or doesn't work? Light, Moment, Composition, Subject, Processing?
- Does the image have impact? Why or why not?
- Prints of the same image (in the links) differ. Do you find a particular one more engaging? Why?
- Does the image have meaning? What do you think its message is?
- Would you want this image on your wall?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Weston
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/aug/18/edward-weston-photography
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-weston-edward.htm
http://iphf.org/inductees/edward-weston/
http://artdurkee.blogspot.com/2009/12/edward-weston-philosophy-of-photography.html
http://edward-weston.com

fairuse http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/photographs-n09129/lot.24.html

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St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

I've been staring at this for quite some time now and find it profound something so simple can be so complex, but I think that's the beauty of it, like the classic Ansel Adam's Rose and Driftwood, André Kertész's Fork, Mapplethorpe’s lilies, and so, so many more simple but captivating images. For me then it's opposite to what I'm used to where I see vast landscapes with sweeping vistas and here I see so little yet so much. It's here also I'm learning to open my eyes and am starting to see the beauty of the simpleness of light, tone, shadow, the overlooked, and the imperfections that make everything perfect.

I might have chosen a cleaner tin, a symmetrical pepper, and forced more contrast on it, but it's that the tin is worn, the pepper sensually shaped, and the lighting so beautiful that makes this image what it is. It would be fun I think to see what everyone's interpretations would be if we were to pay homage to Weston and try to reproduce the image in their likeness for then we would see the genius of his work and all that we aspire to become.

There's so much to learn! S-

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

What interested me about this is that it is so mundane and simple, yet it has become the first image you see when you search Weston's work - and he did a LOT of photographic work, all of which was well received. Is it the light? The tonalities? The sensuous nature of the pepper? I am hoping others will help us think through this one.

Peanut_the_cat Loc: Bradenton, Florida

I was lucky once to meet Cole Weston at his house near Carmel. He told me that his brother Brett always claimed to have eaten Pepper No. 30. A little known fact!

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Neat! S-

Frank2013 Loc: San Antonio, TX. & Milwaukee, WI.

Most know I know next to nothing about art or well know photographers, and much less about any of their work. For me this image is interesting because of the form, shape, and light. It has impact because of those things. A normal shaped bell pepper I don’t feel would have been near as effective. I’m just wondering if anyone else sees the face reflection midway down on the left side…...

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

All of us can appreciate form, shape and light - it's what we do! Thanks for pointing out the "face". I didn't see it till you mentioned it. But I do see the semblance of a human form.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

Yes, I see the face, but it isn't something I would immediately notice.

Every time I look at this photo, my initial impression is how much the pepper resembles the muscular back of a body builder.

Frank2013 Loc: San Antonio, TX. & Milwaukee, WI.

Understood 2c4....

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

To me, it looks like a naked lady with a rather Rubensque figure.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Does he himself explain why it was so pivotal for him? I think the rest of us could speculate about that till the cows come home, and not necessarily come to any meaningful conclusions.

Technically it's impressive just how 3D it looks. That wouldn't happen just by accident. I think this must have been at a time when photography was still a young technology and concepts like contrast were possibly not widely thought about or even understood. It was probably an achievement getting it to look as 3D as it does, and perhaps that evoked speculation as to why it worked the way it does. Contrast and lighting were probably familiar concepts to artists but you'd have to be schooled in those subjects before they became meaningful, so it was probably a new thing for photographers to be looking at contrast and lighting as closely as he must have been to achieve that look.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

I found it interesting that he put the pepper into a funnel. When you imagine what the characteristics of a funnel were in 1930, and how that would impact the light and shadow, it makes sense, but who would have thought of such a thing?

There's a ton of interesting material in the links, including some from the photographer, that was all new to me, worth some reading in spare time. He worked a long time, and built up a huge body of work that to me looks more diverse than the works of most photographers. It would be interesting to look at it from a timeline perspective.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

It sounds like he was an extreme example of someone who had an experimental mentality. It doesn't guarantee good results but it's exactly what a young technology requires. I'll give the links a closer look when I have the time.

SoHillGuy Loc: Washington

I find it most interesting that he had to work with such slow film speeds that it would take four hours to photograph a pepper and then develop the film in a diluted developing solution to obtain just the right highlights and shadows which he wanted. His environment with photography was much different than ours today, and ours is even different than not to many years ago.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

This is true. Sometimes we forget how very much our art form has changed, and many of the factors that were necessary for great photographic art are not exactly necessary any more. Some of us on this forum have grounding in the "old ways" and even still practive them, often alongside modern methods. Others of us have no experience in the film-and-darkroom world. That would be another discussion but an interesting one - how "different" are those of us who came from film and those of us who came in with the digital revolution.