Dody Weston Thompson 1923-2012

Dody Weston Thompson, award-winning photographer, noted writer, lecturer, assistant to photography icons Edward Weston and Ansel Adams, and creative collaborator with former husband Brett Weston. Known simply as "Dody," the adventuresome Louisianan was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. The West Coast Photographic Movement was steadily ascending the artistic scene in the 1930s. Dody joined the revolutionary trend in the late 1940s and earned her place as the last member of the original generation of West Coast photographers. Her career in photography spanned 59 years, from 1947 until 2003. During her first forty years, she photographed extensively throughout the continental United States, Hawaii, France, Italy, Mexico and Japan. In 1952, her black and white images of California earned her the prestigious Alfred M. Bender award from the San Francisco Museum of Art.

She was as well a highly regarded writer and lecturer on the history and craft of photography, the West Coast Movement and the legacy of Edward Weston, sharing her knowledge with audiences in dozens of museums, art institutions and publications worldwide. In the last decades of her life she focused primarily on exhibiting, writing and lecturing. She took her final black and white photograph in 1966 and her last color photograph in 1997, at Point Lobos. In 2006, Dody received a Certificate of Recognition from the California Legislature Assembly for "her extraordinary contribution to the field of fine art photography, her work as a writer and as one of the founders of Aperture magazine." 		 

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
photo by: Brett Weston
   

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
Edward Wston's Desk & Bookshelf 1952 | | 420.16.10
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 
Amargosa Dunes, NV 1948 | Silver Gelatin Print |
 
   
   
   
   
   
Edward Weston at Rhyolite 1948 | 4x5 Silver Gelatin Print | 416.16.10
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 
Storm California Coast Range 1953 | 8x10 Silver Gelatin Print | 417.16.10
 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
Ghost Town Kitchen, Rhyolite, Nevada 1948 | 8x10 Silver Gelatin Print | 418.16.10
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 
X-Crack Safty Glass #2 1952 | x10 Silver Gelatin Print | 419.16.10
 
   
   
  Dody Weston Thompson Collection  
   
   
Harry, Ansel Adams’ major domo 1952 | Silver gelatin print | 427.16.10
   
     
   
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