John Paul Edwards
Encyclopedia
John Paul Edwards was an American photographer and a member of the famous Group f/64
.
He was born in Minnesota on June 5, 1884, and moved to California in 1902. It is not known how he became interested in photography, but by the early 1920s he was a member of the Oakland Camera Club, the San Francisco Photographic Society, and the Pictorial Photographers of America. His early photographs were in the pictorialist style, but by the late 1920s he had changed to a pure straight photography
style.
Sometime around 1930 he met Willard Van Dyke
and Edward Weston
. Within two years they had become good friends, and in 1932 Edwards was invited to be a founding member of Group f/64, along with Weston, Van Dyke, Ansel Adams
, Imogen Cunningham
, Sonya Noskowiak
and Henry Swift
. He participated in the landmark Group f/64 exhibit at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, showing nine images of boats, anchor chains and farm wagons.
He continued to photograph for many years after Group f/64 dissolved in 1935, but he did not gain any of the fame of many other members of the group. In 1967 he and his wife donated an important collection of photographs to the Oakland Museum. He died in Oakland, California, in 1968.
Group f/64
Group f/64 was a group of seven 20th century San Francisco photographers who shared a common photographic style characterized by sharp-focused and carefully framed images seen through a particularly Western viewpoint...
.
He was born in Minnesota on June 5, 1884, and moved to California in 1902. It is not known how he became interested in photography, but by the early 1920s he was a member of the Oakland Camera Club, the San Francisco Photographic Society, and the Pictorial Photographers of America. His early photographs were in the pictorialist style, but by the late 1920s he had changed to a pure straight photography
Straight photography
Pure photography or straight photography refers to photography that attempts to depict a scene as realistically and objectively as permitted by the medium, renouncing the use of manipulation....
style.
Sometime around 1930 he met Willard Van Dyke
Willard Van Dyke
Willard Van Dyke was an American filmmaker and photographer who believed that photography could have a major influence on the world....
and Edward Weston
Edward Weston
Edward Henry Weston was a 20th century American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers…" and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." Over the course of his forty-year career Weston photographed an increasingly expansive set of...
. Within two years they had become good friends, and in 1932 Edwards was invited to be a founding member of Group f/64, along with Weston, Van Dyke, Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park....
, Imogen Cunningham
Imogen Cunningham
Imogen Cunningham was an American photographer known for her photography of botanicals, nudes and industry.-Life and career:...
, Sonya Noskowiak
Sonya noskowiak
Sonya Noskowiak was an American photographer and member of the famous San Francisco photography collective Group f/64 that included Ansel Adams and Edward Weston.-Life:...
and Henry Swift
Henry Swift (photographer)
Henry Swift was an American photographer and member of the famous Group f/64.In the early 1920s he met photographer Edward Weston by chance in Carmel, California and began making photographs as a hobby. He was earning a living as a stockbroker, a career he continued throughout his life...
. He participated in the landmark Group f/64 exhibit at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, showing nine images of boats, anchor chains and farm wagons.
He continued to photograph for many years after Group f/64 dissolved in 1935, but he did not gain any of the fame of many other members of the group. In 1967 he and his wife donated an important collection of photographs to the Oakland Museum. He died in Oakland, California, in 1968.