Edward Weston: Life Work

Edward Weston: Life Work is a beautiful book filled with wonderful photographs. I’m beginning to appreciate the beauty of a well-seen and beautifully executed still life. 

I have never owned  a photography book as nicely made as this one. Lodima Press really put some effort into the production. For example the book is printed using two types of paper, each appropriate to  Weston’s style and printing preferences at the time the original photo was made. The photos are represented beautifully. Perhaps not the same as a true print, but still very nice. I could sit here for hours and just explore it. 

I didn’t know that Weston printed his own work, and was apparently very good at it. This resonates with me since I’m struggling to print well in the darkroom myself. It’s easy to make a mediocre print, but another thing altogether to create a “fine” print. I’m not talking about the subject matter, but of the print itself. When done well, there is nothing like it. The following paragraph in the book describes what looking at a fine print feels like.

How great it would be to create something that could be described like that!