What is formalism ?

Formalism represents the how a photo or image is made (its form). It also includes the position that the image was taken from e.g. birds eye view, worms eye view etc. It is what is in the image and how is has been pieced together, rather than what the image tells us. Formalism began in photography in the late 1800’s, it was an approach in response to the post-impressionism movements that was major in the art industry at the time.

What is includes:

Formalism includes four main areas. Technical, visual, contextual and conceptual. They tell and describe how the image is made with the features that it carries.

Edward Weston:

An example of a formalism photographer is Weston, he takes images of objects close up to capture their detail and puts the images in black and white to show the shadows ad depth. I like the two images of his below as they hold lots of different tones and shades that intrigue the viewer into the image.

My example: