Edward Weston - Cameras and Techniques

Cameras and Techniques

During his lifetime Weston worked with several cameras.

• 8 × 10 Seneca folding-bed view camera with one of several lenses: a Graf Variable, Wollensak Verito or Rapid Rectilinear
• 8 × 10 Universal view camera with either a triple convertible Turner Reich or a 19" Protar
• 4 × 5 view camera, type unknown.
• 3¼ × 4¼ Graflex with a ƒ/4.5 Tessar lens

Film and Paper

Prior to 1921 Weston used an orthochromatic sheet film, but after panchromatic film became widely available in 1921 he switched to it exclusively. Notations he made about his exposures indicate that the film he used would be rated approximately equivalent to 16 on the today's ISO scale. This necessitated very long exposures when using his view camera, ranging from 1 to 3 seconds for outdoor landscape exposures to as long as 4½ hours for still lifes such his peppers or shells.

The 8 × 10 he preferred was large and heavy, and due to its weight and the cost of the film he never carried more than twelve sheet film holders with him. At the end of each day, he had to go into a darkroom, unload the film holders and load them with new film. This was especially challenging when he was traveling since he had to find a darkened room somewhere or else set up a makeshift darkroom made from heavy canvas.

In spite of the bulky size of the view camera, Weston boasted he could "set up the tripod, fasten the camera securely to it, attach the lens to the camera, open the shutter, study the image on the ground glass, focus it, close the shutter, insert the plate holder, cock the shutter, set it to the appropriate aperture and speed, remove the slide from the plate holder, make the exposure, replace the slide, and remove the plate holder in two minutes and twenty seconds."

He printed on several kinds of paper. Initially he used standard silver gelatin paper for his portraits and other early photos, but in Mexico he learned how to use platinum and palladium paper that was imported from England.

After his return to California, he abandoned platinum and palladium printing due to the scarcity and price of the paper. Eventually he was able to get most of the same qualities he preferred with regular chloro-bromide papers.

Weston always made contact prints, meaning that the print was exactly the same size as the negative. This was essential for the platinum printing that he preferred, since at that time the platinum papers required ultra-violet light to activate.

When he wanted a print that was larger than the original negative size, he used an enlarger to create a larger inter-positive, then contact printed it to a new negative. The new larger negative was then used to make a print of that size.