Pictorialism was an early photographic movement that focused on photography being an art form, with images being created rather than captured, trying to emulate the emotional capacity of paintings and more classical forms of art. The movement was known for using different techniques to achieve an almost painting-like quality to their photographs, the key viewpoint being that what was significant about a photograph was not what was in front of the camera but the manipulation of the image by the photographer to achieve their vision of the piece.
The work of the pictorial movement appealed to me because the style of photo-taking/making, creating photos that look like/try to emulate the style of paintings is one that I appreciate. I try and aim to create similar aesthetics within my own photographs, though using different post-production methods to a similar effect, like digital manipulation rather than physical techniques.