All About Group f/64
Posted on 02. Nov, 2008 by herbert reich in Photography
Though seldom mentioned outside of photographic circles, Group f/64 included such luminaries as Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, and John Paul Edwards. Founded in San Francisco in 1932, Group f/64 would expand in following years to include a number of members. Members, particularly Ansel Adams, would go on to impact the process and prowess of photography for decades to come. In 2006, one of his prints alone fetched more than $600,000 at auction.
The group derived its name from the then-new camera aperture setting. The more commonly used Uniform System designation of US 256 was first suggested as the group's name, but f/64 was suggested instead as it was less likely to be confused with a nationalist theme. The f/64 setting is the smallest setting on large format cameras, yet it secures the widest field of depth. This means that a photo taken on this setting has the same sharpness from background to foreground.
The general photographic rule of thumb is: the smaller the aperture, the longer the exposure. This required the subject of the photograph to be very still or a still-life. Better yet: a landscape. The group's location in California meant that these long exposures were less necessary, as strong sunshine reduces the need for exposure time. Cameras of this size did tend to be large and clumsy, which limited subject matter to some degree, however. By comparison, the cameras used in 1930s reporting and action photos were much smaller and easier to maneuver.
It was the actual size of these heavy cameras that played perfectly into the creative philosophy behind Group f/64. Pictorialism was en vogue in San Francisco at the time, which espoused the 19th century ideas of emulating etchings and paintings. Soft focuses, special lens coatings and filters, and heavy darkroom manipulation were all used to achieve this end, which Group f/64 found unnecessary. They strove for a clear, defined photographic image using simple, direct presentation and photographic methods only, a strong contrast to the pictorialist philosophy.
Group f/64 sought to define and refine photography via its inherent limitations, rather than comparing it to other, more established forms of art. They pointed out that the aesthetics and ideological conventions of painting and drawing, which were often used to judge photography, had developed before photography itself even existed, and could not take that medium into proper account. Members of Group f/64 went on to become some of the most influential photographers of the time. Indeed, a great many of their techniques are taught in photography schools today.
