What was the Pictorialism movement in photography?
- The pictorialism movement is the movement in which the aspects of photography are manipulated to make the photograph more aesthetic which resembles paintings and drawings. It places aesthetics beauty and expressiveness above an accurate capture of the scene.
In this picture
What was the straight photography movement in photography? Why was it popular amongst photographers?
- Straight photography movement is the movement in which photographs are meant to depict the scene with sharp focus and detail. It highlights the visual language of the camera itself, such as shape, tonality, contrast, and focus.
How have Edward Weston and Aaron Siskind (above) been influenced by the Straight Photography Movement?
Edward Weston: Looking at his work, it is apparent that his early work definitely deviated more toward Pictorialism, you can see that his photographs are more similar to paintings and are not focused on bringing an accurate depiction of reality. 
His later works are more influenced by Straight Photography, which is centered around capturing the scene the way it is real and raw.
Aaron Siskind: He is influenced mostly by Straight Photography, through his photographs, he captures subjects with great detail and focus.
What makes the work of contemporary photographers Andreas Gursky and Uta Barth abstract? Can they be classified as pictorialist or straight photographers? Explain your response.
- Andreas Gursky and Uta Barth‘s work are all abstract because through their work, they extract meaning from their subjects that they want to communicate to the audience.
- Andreas Gursky can be classified more as a Straight Photographer because his style is more of capturing shapes and details and contrast of his scenes, like this picture here:
Uta Barth can be classified more as a Pictorialist Photographer because her work is more centered on highlighting aesthetics of her photos by manipulating the picture itself or the camera. She uses blurriness in her work a lot, an example:
