Wedding & Portrait Photojournalism

Most of the fountains that surround us are in place to add a sense of elegance to a setting. While toilets are seen and used on a daily basis by most of us, very few people stop to notice its aesthetic qualities. This is because most people think of toilets as dirty and smelly. It also has to deal with the excrement process, so it’s typically taboo for discussion and most would consider preposterous for art. This is why you never hear anybody say “that is one beautiful toilet.” Edward Weston however went against the grain and photographed a toilet against a tile wall and floor from the perspective of a bug on the floor. Although his photograph was by no means normal, he was not the first; in 1917 Marcel Decamp featured a urinal in a gallery which was photographed by Alfred Stieglitz and various other photographers. While it is easy to say that the silver print Edward Weston, Excusado, 1925 was created for aesthetically evaluative purposes, one could also argue that that it is ethically evaluative since it leaves people questioning what is defined as art.