Edward Steichen
Edward Steichen was a pioneering champion of fine-art photography and famous for commercial fashion photography. Although Steichen did not invent fashion photography, he was the founder and pioneer of modern fashion photographer. He was a regular photographer for various fashion magazines such as Vogue,Vanity Fair. Because the style of his early work was influenced by illustrators, the photographs style was very dreamy and emphasizes the romantic atmosphere. Meanwhile, he was also the first director of photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and created the most popular photography exhibition, Family of Man, in 1955. During World War I, he served as the chief of photography section to document the war. He then moved from the soft-focus, dreamlike style of photography to pure photography or straight photography which focus on detail recording and clean lines.
Photographer, Ansel Adams, used the terms straight photography and pure photography to describe this new style. Advocates of straight photography argue that this is a more pure form of photography than Pictorialism. In my presentation I will give four examples of pure photography: old classic—-Ansel Adams, Adward Weston; contemporary artists— Alexander Coggin,Maisie Cousins.