- Paperback: 190 pages
- Publisher: Aperture (April 1996)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0893816035
- ISBN-13: 978-0893816032
- Product Dimensions: 21 x 14 x 1.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 295 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#156,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #45 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Criticism & Essays
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Adams, a noted photographer of the American West, dislikes words that describe pictures. In this collection of poetic, thought-provoking and highly original essays, he examines Paul Strand's devotion to America and analyzes the origins of his art; he looks at the contradictions in Ansel Adams' life and work, and comes to his own conclusions. He writes movingly not only of people but of place--his beloved West--and his belief that "we live in several landscapes at once, among them the landscape of hope..."
Review
"At our best and most fortunate we make pictures because of what stands in front of the camera, to honor what is greater and more interesting than we are."
-Robert Adams
-Robert Adams
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Photographers -- this book is your friend.,
By
This review is from: Why People Photograph (Paperback)
If you are not connected with any photography/art community, this book is for you. If none of your friends has an MFA, and if you are in need of someone who can speak intelligently about photography as art, then again, this book is for you. Robert Adams' writing is clear, concise, and insightful. Adams tells us why we photograph, for example, why we photograph landscapes. The answers include: because the images are of "emblems of a land" (pages 146 and 163), because our photographed subjects redefine us and is part of our biography (page 15), because art is "specifics made universal" (page 120), and because "art is a discovery of harmony" (page 181). Adams consoles photographers who come to realize that spending ten years doing photography won't necessarily result, e.g., in a contract for preparing a coffeetable book: "[t]hey may or may not make a living by photography but they are alive by it" (page 15); and the experience of having an exhibit where the photographer "stand[s] through the opening of an exhibition to which only officials have come." (page 16). Adams reveals the secrets of some of the masters, e.g., Weston: "limbs and torsos . . . treated as shapes to be enjoyed as one might the sight of a smooth stone" (page 64); and Paul Strand: "he worked off axis as if it were a moral principle . . . but usually just slightly off axis." (page 81) Robert Adams offers some critiques of the masters, e.g., of Paul Strand: "[o]ff-centering is used here . . . it begins to seem formulaic (page 87); and of Ansel Adams: "I have been derivative of myself for fifty years." (page 116). Robert Adams' book is a stand-alone book, that is, it does not require a knowledge of literature, art criticism, or history. The book is for the layperson. Another fine, insightful book on photography criticism is Light Readings by A.D. Coleman. A remarkable bit of insight by A.D. Coleman, for example, concerns his view of the typical amateur (page 164): "Typically, a snapshot of someone's relative at Grant's Tomb will show the relative too far from the camera to be identifiable and Grant's Tomb too close to be recognizable . . . Their charm and poignancy derives specifically from their failure to communicate . . ."The writings of Robert Adams and A.D. Coleman may be contrasted with the poetic commentary David Wallace (in Morley Baer's The Wilder Shore) and with the "writing" of Sally Eauclair in The New Color Photography and New Color/New Work. The writings of David Wallace and Sally Eauclaire are silly, and sometimes very silly, and serve only to draw attention to the words printed on the page instead of serving to invoke new concepts and connections in the mind.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dog eared and well thumbed,
By Stuart Murdoch "everything in photography is ... (Melbourne Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Why People Photograph: Selected Essays and Reviews (Hardcover)
This book has been of great assitance to me in my teaching and creative practice over the years. It has been a source of inspiration and motivation allowing me to continue working with my cameras and photography, at the same time reconciling different ideas about 'money', 'ideas', 'freinds', 'teaching' etc to enable me to maintain my faith in what I do.The essays on teaching and money in particular have helped me clarify my position as both an artist and teacher, I highly recommend this book to anyone considering teaching or photography as a career.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Why indeed?,
By
This review is from: Why People Photograph (Paperback)
Serious and potentially serious photographers will reflect upon that question as they read this. Adams lays it on the line: "Almost all photographers have incurred large expenses in the pursuit of tiny audiences, finding the wonder that they'd hoped to share is something few want to receive." Some will find declarations like these oddly fortifying. If you can't find a large audience for your photography, it may not (or may) be on account of its quality; that's just the way it is, so let's get on with it.It's unusual to find a book that considers photography and many of its eminent practitioners with disciplined philosophical thought. Adams provides that along with some sad reflections on the deteriorating conditions of the American landscape, conditions that prevail just about everywhere else, no doubt. So much has been altered by "progress," so many places have been fenced off that one has to look very hard indeed for the briefest glance at the landscapes of the soul.
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