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The leader of
the naturalistic movement in photography, which
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emerged in
1880s, was Peter Henry Emerson (1856-1936)
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Emerson's main
claim was that one should treat photography
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as a
legitimate art in its own right, rather than seek to imitate
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other art
forms; imitation was not needed - it could confer its
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own legitimacy
without it.
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Emerson
claimed that true photographic art was possible only
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through
exploiting the camera’s ability to capture reality in a
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direct way.
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The rules of
naturalism were: no “faking” by means of lighting,
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posing,
costumes or props; no retouching. A so called
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“scientific
focusing” technique was promoted, which imitated
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the way the eye
perceives a scene: sharply focused on the
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main subject,
with the foreground and the background slightly
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out of focus.
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