WebWork #5

Group f/64

Group f/64 was a group from the 20th centruy of seven photographers from San Francisco. They all had the same thing in common with there photos which were sharp-focused and carefully framed images. The goal was to promote a new Modernist aesthetic that showed exact exposed images of natural forms and found objects.

Ansel Adams which you may remember from learning about him in class was part of the f/64 group...

The Group of seven in the f/64 inculded
-Ansel Adams
-Imogen Cunningham
-John Paul Edwards
-Sonya Noskowiak
-Henry Swift
-Willard Van Dyke
-Edward Weston
time to time other photographers would be asked to show there work with the group f/64 included:

-Preston Holder
-Conseuella [sic] Kanaga
-Alma Lavenson
-Brett Weston

the very first exhibition had 80 photographs, 10 by adams, 9 each by Cunningham, Edwards, Noskowiak, swift, Van Dyke and Edward Weston, and 4 each by Holder, Kanaga, Lavenson and Brett Weston.

The show ran for a total of 6 weeks and Edward Weston's photos were priced at $15 each where all the others were priced at $10.

Group f/64 displayed this manifesto at their exhibit in 1932:

"The name of this Group is derived from a diaphragm number of the photographic lens. It signifies to a large extent the qualities of clearness and definition of the photographic image which is an important element in the work of members of this Group.
The chief object of the Group is to present in frequent shows what it considers the best contemporary photography of the West; in addition to the showing of the work of its members, it will include prints from other photographers who evidence tendencies in their work similar to that of the Group.
Group f/64 is not pretending to cover the entire spectrum of photography or to indicate through its selection of members any deprecating opinion of the photographers who are not included in its shows. There are great number of serious workers in photography whose style and technique does not relate to the metier of the Group.
Group f/64 limits its members and invitational names to those workers who are striving to define photography as an art form by simple and direct presentation through purely photographic methods. The Group will show no work at any time that does not conform to its standards of pure photography. Pure photography is defined as possessing no qualities of technique, composition or idea, derivative of any other art form. The production of the "Pictorialist," on the other hand, indicates a devotion to principles of art which are directly related to painting and the graphic arts.
The members of Group f/64 believe that photography, as an art form, must develop along lines defined by the actualities and limitations of the photographic medium, and must always remain independent of ideological conventions of art and aesthetics that are reminiscent of a period and culture antedating the growth of the medium itself.
The Group will appreciate information regarding any serious work in photography that has escaped its attention, and is favorable towards establishing itself as a Forum of Modern Photography."

In 1933 Ansel Adams wrote this in the Camera Craft magazine:

"My conception of Group f/64 is this: it is an organization of serious photographers without formal ritual of procedure, incorporation, or any of the restrictions of artistic secret societies, Salons, clubs or cliques…The Group was formed as an expression of our desire to define the trend of photography as we conceive it…Our motive is not to impose aschool with rigid limitations, or to present our work with belligerent scorn of other view-points, but to indicate what we consider to be reasonable statements of straight photography. Our individual tendencies are encouraged; the Group Exhibits suggest distinctive individual view-points, technical and emotional, achieved without departure from the simplest aspects of straight photographic procedure."