Over the summer of 2025, I was able to go to study Abroad and develop a better understanding of photography as well as learn my personal voice. I was unsure if my style led more towards pictorialism or straight photography so my goal was to try to incorporate both in the different countries and then decide which one I naturally leaned toward. I have and still admire both styles immensely. An artist that I have looked up to for Pictorialism has been Alvin Langdon Coburn since his images are taken close up and have an abstract quality to them, which is due to his many complex processes. I also have admired Adolf Fassbender’s style since his soft focus and manipulated values and textures evoke a certain mood that would have not been there before.

 Although I value manipulating images to create a sense of feeling, I have decided to lean more towards straight photography for my main style, since I love capturing not just the essence of a said object, but the natural beauty of the detail. I also prefer manipulating a said composition “in the field” as opposed to in a dark room. An artist that I have looked up to for this movement has been Edward Weston and his crisp and impactful photographs of close up nature. 

I still am greatly inspired by nature and I will continue to capture images up close. I also prefer having a shallow depth of field since it leads the eye to a central focal point in an image.

 I have expanded my photography by capturing random objects found and used in everyday life as well. I believe that beauty can be found in everything and that people have not taken the time to appreciate what is around them. I want my photographs to get people to take a closer look at an overseen object and view it in a different way. In conclusion, my photographic philosophy is straight photography of daily objects and nature that show the beauty of the natural world.