[b. 1911 - 1993] American photographer
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People are under the illusion that it's easy...Technically, it is complex. You have a million options with equipment to distract you. I tell my students to simplify their equipment.
The taint of age can be very beautiful. The wreckage of man-made objects is something more beautiful than the new. Rust and weathering adds a patina of . . . well, I call it 'elegant shit' or 'elegant gorp'.
Anything more than 500 yds from the car just isn't photogenic.
Attributed to Brett Weston referring to working with a 10 x 8 view camera. In an interview with David Graham in July 1989 View Camera magazine.
Why don’t you put that old print on the floor and I’ll step on it for you and make it even more vintage.
to Scott Nichols
My present work. You move ahead. You don't rest on your laurels.
On the question: " “What years do you consider your best work."
Nature is a great artist, the greatest. I've seen rocks and forms that put Matisse, Picasso, and Brancusi to shame. You can't beat Mother Nature.
The Creative Photographer : A Complete Guide to Photography by John Ingledew
I would rather hare an audience of say a thousand people who really love my work than ten million.
An artist has to have a strong ego. He has to be enamored of his work. His art has to be the most important thing in his life.
I don’t photograph for other people. I love an audience, mind you. Once I’ve got them there, then I love an audience. Not a big audience, though. I’d rather please ten people I respect than ten million I don’t. But I don’t play to an audience, I do it for myself.
Of course, we were not promoters, we Westons, let’s face it. Dad had only $300 in the bank at the end, that’s all he had.
The camera for an artist is just another tool. It is no more mechanical than a violin if you analyze it. Beyond the rudiments, it is up to the artist to create art, not the camera.
Photography is 90% sheer, brutal drudgery! The other 10% is inspiration!!
I love appreciation and an audience, we all do, but I don’t photograph for anybody but myself. In general mass audiences are tasteless, and I’d rather have an audience of say a thousand people who really love and understand and appreciate my work than 10 million.
As quoted in Pitnick, R. (Jan. 8, 1998). “The Masterful and Messy Legacy of Brett Weston.”
It (Photography) can record beauty precisely in a split second. A painter can't do this, a writer can't do this, a sculptor can't do this.
My basic drive is to create, not to be famous.
You’re trying to pin me down. I’m not a verbal person. Look at my work and decide for yourself. It’s hard to put it into words.
My work is my language and I don’t discuss it very easily. It’s difficult for me to verbalize my feelings, or to intellectualize my work. In fact, it used to annoy me when Ansel Adams and Paul Strand yak-yak-yakked about what photography meant, and I told them so.
I use various types of cameras and photograph anything, anytime. It could be something modern or an ancient rock, it doesn’t matter. But, unless a landscape is invested with a sense of mystery, it is no better than a postcard.
