Straight Photography
Photography
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Straight Photography
Until the beginning of the 20th century, photography sought to consolidate itself as an art form (we are talking about the Academicism and Pictorialism movements). It aimed for sophistication and elaboration. The use of many resources and a lot of “artistic expression” by photographers was evident.
As it usually happens in any artistic discipline, the counterpart soon arrived: in this case, the so-called straight photography.
Images are not composed beforehand, they are not planned. Nor are the negatives manipulated afterwards. We do no longer see scenery, nor subtle out-of-focus shots to achieve the romantic flou effect, nor theatrical chiaroscuros or vague shapes. Now sharpness, image quality, and well-defined tones predominate.
There is no “posing” but naturalness.
Photographers now work in a straight way to give the viewer an uncontrived experience of their artist’s gaze. They do not “compose” a beautiful image but wait with their camera, with all their technical knowledge and sensitivity, for that beauty to “manifest itself” in order to capture it.
Before that, when the image was “composed,” it was considered that photography, although it had reached the status of art, had not yet detached itself from painting. With straight photography, independence finally arrived.
An essay written in 1904 by an art critic named Sadakichi, entitled A Plea for Straight Photography, says:
“Rely on your camera, on your eye, on your good taste and your knowledge of composition, […] patiently wait until the scene or object of your pictured vision reveals itself in its supremest moment of beauty. In short, compose the picture which you intend to take so well that the negative will be absolutely perfect and in need of no or but slight manipulation. “
Image: The Steerage (1907). Alfred Stieglitz. It is one of the fundamental works in the history of photography. When the artist “discovered” this scene on a ship where he was traveling, and portrayed it spontaneously, with all its naturalness. He, who had been one of the great representatives of Pictorialism, became one of the emblems of straight photography.
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