William Mortensen (1897–1965)

Great book for photographers and artists on how to compose pictures to gain maximum viewer interest. Some of the theory behind it seems a bit murky. "S' curves evoking the primal fear of snakes. But it's really good for getting you thinking how your viewers are going to get their eyeballs onto the picture. How you can compose artwork to determine how they track across the picture, and thus input the brain.

"Why does an artist paint pictures, write symphonies, carve statues, tell stories? Is it because he finds joy and spiritual release in the mere doing of these things? Probably; but this is not the whole story. Is it because he makes his living after this fashion? No doubt; but there is still more to it than this.
Here is the third reason. It is a very significant reason, though it is generally disregarded. The artist persists in being an artist because he revels in the feeling that he may affect or influence people by his work. He does not demand approbation, but he does demand *notice and response.* The thought that he may through his work influence people and strike past their defences to their secret emotions gives him a gratifying sense of power."… (meer)

Before there was Photoshop there was a long tradition of image manipulation through a variety of techniques including lighting, staging and darkroom manipulations. These were often thought to bring photography to the realm of fine art, or at least nudge it closer. After the 1920's typical darkroom manipulations and related special processes were out of favor with leading critics and historians. Thus Mortensen, a master of lighting and manipulation, was out of the modernist canon. In his own time he had a significant following for his workshops and many publications, mostly from more or less serious amateurs who wanted more control than :"straight" photography allowed them.

The great and remaining value of Mortensen on lighting is the range he achieved with two basic lights (assuming a studio style of setting and approach). In a time when anyone with any cheap camera can "get" a photograph with available light, there is a great need for more attention to lighting and its control. Quality requires knowledge and care: Mortensen represented both,

Mortensen's instructions were among the best. They were well illustrated with how to photograhs, and his own results which were often over the top nudes and dramas beyond belief. Yet he represented something basic to what many wanted to do with or look at in photography.

Now (2010) in a time of favored maniuplation, Mortensen should be honored as a pioneer. This can be done without allowing that most of his work was artistically "successful."… (meer)