Assignment 4 - A Critical Review of Ansel Adams

Requirement

Essay of up to 2,500 words

Instructions

Select one of Ansel Adams, Robert Adams, Fay Godwin, Edward Weston or Galen Rowell. Research and write an essay, covering:

• The life of the chosen photographer
• The style of his/her work
• His/her influence on photography as an art form
• The reasons for your interest in his/ her work 

 

I chose Ansel Adams. Like or dislike his work, it had great impact on the development of landscape photography.

 

Preparation

 

See post with notes: Ansel Adams - notes on selected readings

Synopsis

Life

1902 - 1984. Born and lived in California. Photography and Yosemite were childhood interests that shaped his life. His early style was Pictorialist. Paul Strand's influence converted him in the 1930s to Straight Photography. His most prolific period of image taking was in 1930s and 1940s. Thereafter he increasingly became a lobbyist for conservation and a teacher as well as writer on his craft. Towards the end of his life, President Carter presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His citation ran: "it is through [Adams’] foresight and fortitude that so much of America has been saved for future Americans".

Style

His subject was the wilderness of the American West, his craft was his practice of ‘straight photography’ and his message expressed a vision of Man’s spiritual communion with nature.

Influence

His influence was four-fold. 

• As key exponent of modernism, he contributed to photography developing a voice in fine art independently of painting.
• His images, as well as his lobbying, raised awareness of the need to protect the environment. 
• As a hyperactive practitioner and communicator through books and magazines, he contributed to the development of the technical boundaries of photography. 
• As a photographer with enduring popularity, his work tapped into, and so reinforced, key values Americans held and still hold about themselves and their country.

Personal interest in his work
His finest work moves me and his camera craft is admirable.

Tutor's comments

 

Positives:

• Signs of effort and engagement with subject
• Provision of a map of California showing where he did most of his work
• Comparison of the 2 images of Marion Lake, contrasting the pictorial and modernist style

 

Improvement needed:

• Your draft is like a business report rather an academic essay in its lay-out - use continuous text and remove minor paragraph headings.
• Time line is useful but consider placing it in an Appendix
• You must reference quotes and paraphrases using the Harvard Referencing System