Welcome To Wildcat Series: The Graflex Camera

Edward Weston was, for the most part, a contact printer, meaning that the size of his finished photograph was the size of the negative he created. However, for a period of time while he was in Mexico, he used a Graflex Camera to capture his iconic Edward Weston style portraits. He made some contact prints with the small negative size but also created 8x10 negatives from the smaller 2.25 x 3.25 sized negatives to print in the darkroom.

The Edward Weston artworks we have grown to love include the intimate portrait photography from his time in Mexico of Tina Madotti, Diego Rivera and many others while using the Graflex.

Edward Weston’s Portrait Photography

Edward has a gift of extracting unique and personal expressions from the sittings he took. It is well documented that he was a very fun loving guy and made others feel comfortable around him which is a super important trait to have when it comes to portrait photography. Allowing your subject to settle into a comfort zone then results in the best photographs being brought to life. Edward’s portraits range very widely in feeling and expression which is evident in even the four shown here.