John Paul Edwards (1884–1968) was an American photographer and a member of the Group f/64. He was born in Minnesota on June 5, 1884, and moved to California in 1902. It is not known how he became interested in photography, but by the early 1920s he was a member of the Oakland Camera Club, the San Francisco Photographic Society, and the Pictorial Photographers of America. His early photographs were in the

pictorialist Pictorialism is an international style and aesthetic movement that dominated photography during the later 19th and early 20th centuries. There is no standard definition of the term, but in general it refers to a style in which the photographer ha ...

style, but by the late 1920s he had changed to a pure straight photography style. Sometime around 1930 he met

Willard Van Dyke Willard Van Dyke (December 5, 1906 – January 23, 1986) was an American filmmaker, photographer, arts administrator, teacher, and former director of the film department at the Museum of Modern Art.http://www.moma.org/docs/press_archives/6278/rel ...

and

Edward Weston Edward Henry Weston (March 24, 1886 – January 1, 1958) was a 20th-century American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers..." and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." ...

. Within two years they had become good friends, and in 1932 Edwards was invited to be a founding member of Group f/64, along with Weston, Van Dyke,

Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his Monochrome photography, black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association ...

Imogen Cunningham Imogen Cunningham (; April 12, 1883 – June 23, 1976) was an American photographer known for her botanical photography, nudes, and industrial landscapes. Cunningham was a member of the California-based Group f/64, known for its dedication to t ...

Sonya Noskowiak Sonya Noskowiak (25 November 190028 April 1975) was a 20th-century German-American photographer and member of the San Francisco photography collective Group f/64 that included Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. She is considered an important figure in ...

and Henry Swift. He participated in the landmark Group f/64 exhibit at the

M.H. de Young Memorial Museum The de Young Museum, formally the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, is a fine arts museum located in San Francisco, California. Located in Golden Gate Park, it is a component of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, along with the Legion of Hono ...

, showing nine images of boats, anchor chains and farm wagons. He continued to photograph for many years after Group f/64 dissolved in 1935, but he did not gain any of the fame of many other members of the group. In 1967 he and his wife donated a collection of photographs to the

Oakland Museum The Oakland Museum of California or OMCA (formerly the Oakland Museum) is an interdisciplinary museum dedicated to the art, history, and natural science of California, located adjacent to Oak Street, 10th Street, and 11th Street in Oakland, Cal ...

. He died in Oakland, California, in 1968.

References

*Heyman, Therese Thau. ''Seeing Straight: The Group f.64 Revolution in Photography'' (Oakland: Oakland Museum, 1992) 20th-century American photographers 1884 births 1968 deaths {{US-photographer-stub