Shadow, Light and Form
          Kim Weston, Joel White & Lou Swenson
     

Kim Weston

Kim Weston has been a fine art photographer for 30 years specializing in large format photography. His main body of work consists of silver contact prints made from 8x10 negatives. In addition to the 8x10 format he prints in 11x14 and 16x20 sizes. Kim also photographs with a Mamiya 67 that he inherited from his father Cole Weston. He prints in Platinum and lately he has added paint to his photographs.

Kim is a third-generation member of one of the most important and creative families in photography. He learned his craft assisting his father Cole in the darkroom making gallery prints from his grandfather Edward's original negatives. Kim also worked for many years as an assistant to his uncle Brett, whose bold, abstract photographs rank as some of the finest examples of modern photographic art.

“For many years I worked with my father, Cole Weston, helping him print, mount and spot his father, Edward Weston's, negatives. I also spent 15 years working very closely with my uncle, Brett. Through these great opportunities I learned a very valuable lesson about art. We all take from our artistic endeavors what we as individuals need, to make the process unique and fulfilling to ourselves. After spending countless hours and producing thousands of images in both my fathers' and Brett's darkrooms, I needed to prove that the image was not the most important part of the process, that the process itself held the rewards I was looking for. So for ten years I made only one print of each image, and mounted the negative on the back. The great thing about this thing we call art is that it has no rules. I wouldn't have it any other way.”

For the past six years, Kim and his wife Gina have been sharing their passion, artistry and unique photographic vision with a select group of participants at several workshops held at Wildcat Hill, Edward Weston's former home in the Carmel Highlands. Each workshop combines practical, hands-on instruction in camera and darkroom technique with informal lectures and field trips that immerse participants in the history of the Weston family's contributions to fine art photography. Now expanding their horizons to Scotland and Oaxaca Mexico.

The Weston Photographic Workshops are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to embrace your own creative spirit. Each workshop is open to photographers at all levels of experience. The only requirement is a love for the beauty and expressive potential of the photographic image.

"What I've learned as an artist and photographer is we all take from our artistic endeavors what we as individuals need to make the process unique and fulfilling to ourselves," says Kim. "I'm always learning from my students, and hope they take away a renewed passion and interest in photography as an art and lifestyle."

Artist statement
"I make pictures which are meant to be direct and truthful.
I do not explain or rationalize this work or my passion for it.
I leave it to the viewer to find the surprises.
I hope the work generates feelings; otherwise I have failed".

The Work
"The photographic process is an internal part of my life. It is the process of camera, vision and execution. All steps to a statement either capturing in its whole a (vision) or an interpretation of a feeling hopefully interpreted by the viewer. But through the whole process the finished product must be an immaculate rendition of the vision, the surface is of paramount importance. Which is something I do well and have for 30 years plus. My painted photographs have given me a release from surface importance and visual certainty. I can take my image and tweak it to another dimension which if I think about it was my original direction and interpretation of the subject to begin with".

Lou Swenson

Photography has been my art and passion 50 years. My mother presented me with a 35 mm Kodak camera to take pictures “over there” as I headed out for the Korean War. This served as a catalyst and I have been taking pictures ever since. My early inspiration came from Life magazine Depression Era and World War Photographers such as Walker Evans, Dorthea Lange, Eugene Smith, and Henri Cartier-Bresson.
After completing college and a military career I became a commercial photographer and studio owner in San Antonio. During that time, I earned a Master of Photography Degree, built an extensive list of clients, and won many awards at print competitions.
After 14 years of commercial work, freedom called. Born and raised in Colorado, I knew the time had come to escape the city and return to my roots. I sold my studio and established myself in the fine art world of black-and-white photography.
Drawn to the geographical and cultural diversity of the Four Corners, Dolores appealed to me, and it has been my home for the past 23 years. I have spent these years traversing the back roads of the West, documenting treasures of open spaces, remnants of rural life, and the marks of time on a rapidly changing society.
My expertise lies in photography and printing black – and – white silver-halide negatives in my home darkroom, a practice I will continue as long as film, paper and chemicals are available.

Joel White

My introduction to photography began over six decades ago, while standing in the darkroom and watching my father develop pictures.  After acquiring my first camera as a teenager I was hooked.  My interest was casual until the 1980’s when I developed an intense interest in fine art black and white photography.  The shape, line, and tones of the black and white image were an irresistible draw, universal constants that appeal to my love of geometry and order. My photographic eye matured, benefiting from the influences of Brett Weston, Ansel Adams, Ray McSavanay, and Michael Kenna.  

In 1988 I won a juried show and was rewarded with a one-man exhibition at Palos Verdes art gallery.  After such a “victory” there was no turning back. Pursuing a career as a neurosurgeon left scarce time to photograph, yet I felt a compulsion to pursue my photography.  I respond to the magic that being alone can bring, that solitary moment which fosters harmony with a place. Retirement in 2000 left more time to pursue my love of photography.  My most recent show was at Fort Lewis art gallery in 2007.   My photographs are in the permanent collections of the Art Center in Pasadena, California, and the National Naval Archives.