Naturalistic Photography

In his handbook Naturalistic Photography (1889), he outlined a system of aesthetics. He decreed that a photograph should be direct and simple and show real people in their own environment, not costumed models posed before fake backdrops or other such predetermined formulas.

Emerson’s book Naturalistic Photography (1889) was immensely influential in the last years of the 19th century. American and European photographers who followed its precepts organized associations and mounted exhibitions designed to show that the medium was capable of producing works of great beauty and expressiveness. Before 1900…

…widely read 1889 publication entitled Naturalistic Photography and through numerous articles that appeared in photography journals throughout the 1890s.