Group f/64

Group f/64 was a collective of West Coast photographers founded in 1932 to promote sharply focused images made with large-format cameras and precise technique. Its members rejected pictorialist softness in favor of direct photographic description.

Ansel Adams: An American photographer and conservationist known for sharply detailed black-and-white landscapes of the American West. He helped found the group and became its most prominent advocate.
Aperture: The adjustable opening in a lens that controls how much light reaches a camera's sensor or film. The name f/64 invokes a very small aperture associated with extensive depth of field.
Pictorialism: A photographic movement that sought artistic status through painterly effects, soft focus, and manipulated prints. Group f/64 rejected the soft, painterly effects central to this movement.
Minor White: An American photographer, editor, and teacher known for sequences of images with symbolic and spiritual associations. He helped carry forward West Coast photography after the group's founding period.
Edward Weston: An American photographer known for sharply focused studies of natural forms, nudes, and landscapes. His precise, formally composed photographs helped establish the group's aesthetic.
Large-format photography: Photography made with cameras using film larger than the usual 35 mm or medium-format sizes. Large negatives supported the detailed enlargements favored by many group members.
Alfred Stieglitz: An American photographer and gallery owner who promoted photography as an independent fine art. His earlier campaign for photography's artistic status preceded the group's distinct formal stance.
Ansel Adams Gallery: An art gallery in Yosemite Valley established by Ansel Adams to exhibit and sell photography and other art. Adams's later public work extended the visibility of the photographic tradition he helped promote.
Imogen Cunningham: An American photographer whose work ranged from botanical close-ups and portraits to nudes. She was a founding member whose varied work broadened the group's approach.
Depth of field: The range of distances in an image that appear acceptably sharp. The group's ideal of comprehensive sharpness often relied on deep focus.

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