<P> At the same time , workers throughout the country were beginning to organize for better wages and working conditions . There was a growing movement among the economically oppressed to band together for solidarity and bargaining strength , and photographers were directly participating in these activities . Shortly before Group f / 64 was formed , Edward Weston went to a meeting of the John Reed Club , which was founded to support Marxist artists and writers . These circumstances not only helped set up the situation in which a group of like - minded friends decided to come together around a common interest , but they played a significant role in how they thought about their effort . Group f / 64 was more than a club of artists ; they described themselves as engaged in a battle against a `` tide of oppressive pictorialism '' and purposely called their defining proclamation a manifesto , with all the political overtones that the name implies . </P>
<P> At the same time , workers throughout the country were beginning to organize for better wages and working conditions . There was a growing movement among the economically oppressed to band together for solidarity and bargaining strength , and photographers were directly participating in these activities . Shortly before Group f / 64 was formed , Edward Weston went to a meeting of the John Reed Club , which was founded to support Marxist artists and writers . These circumstances not only helped set up the situation in which a group of like - minded friends decided to come together around a common interest , but they played a significant role in how they thought about their effort . Group f / 64 was more than a club of artists ; they described themselves as engaged in a battle against a `` tide of oppressive pictorialism '' and purposely called their defining proclamation a manifesto , with all the political overtones that the name implies . </P>
group f / 64 was a major backlash against the earlier photographic movement of
group f / 64 was a major backlash against the earlier photographic movement of
tide of oppressive pictorialism
tide of oppressive pictorialism