Heres a dumb question about 2 adams

[Dan_5988]

Which photographer do you think had more impact in enviromental conservation-

Ansel Adams
or
Robert Adams

[Oren Grad]

Outside of a small community of people with a strong interest in photography, nobody knows that Robert Adams exists.

[Kirk Gittings]

I think Robert Adams tried the hardest and had the least political impact, though he influenced many artist including myself. Ansel I think is quoted as saying he never took an image specifically for an environmental cause yet had a much broader public effect. I think there is a lesson here.

[Oren Grad]

Kirk, that's an interesting observation. I think the essence of the problem lies elsewhere, though. Ansel had a large impact because by accident of historical timing and because of the accessibility of his style he became the symbol - indeed, the stereotype - of the large format photographer for the public at large. The environmental stuff was not irrelevant, but it did hitch along for the ride, as it were. I doubt that any photographer, let alone a LF photographer, will ever again assume such an iconic role, even further a photographer like Robert Adams who is self-consciously elitist in both his esthetic sensibilities and his politics.

[paulr]

It's also really hard to know how much impact any photographer or any artist of any kind has had on the environmental movement. Or any movement. Some artists certainly become flag carriers and symbol makers, but it's really hard to say how much influence they have outside the small flock of the already-converted.

Ansel's images resonated with people who already valued ideas of the Wild West like the ones he depicted. This may well acount for his popularity, which went way outside the usual art/photography market.

[Darin Boville]

No one has mentioned it yet but of course Ansel Adams was very active politically for years and years--writing letters, chairing organzations, etc with an environmental purpose. So much so it is easy to think that his photographic output suffered as a result (as I think he himself has said).

Just making photos--even Ansel Adams photos--only goes so far in influencing policy.

I would be suprised to learn that Robert Adams was a recognized name in environmental circles, outside of those with a interest in "serious" photography.

--Darin

www.darinboville.com

[John_4185]

Ansel enjoyed The Sierra Club as a patron and promoter. That's KLOUT!

[Kerik Kouklis]

Michael said:

but I find it hard to understand why so many imitators of A. Adams continue to make landscape photographs that depict the West in a fictional way

While I would agree that the Adams aesthetic has been done to death (as have many, many photographic cliches), since when is it required that photography or other arts must only present things that are visually factual??

[Oren Grad]

Two questions for Michael:

What is it about photographs in Ansel's style that makes them "fictional"?

What does "authentic" mean when the word is used to describe a photograph?

[Kirk Gittings]

Oren,

"even further a photographer like Robert Adams who is self-consciously elitist in both his esthetic sensibilities and his politics."

Robert Adams is a friend of mine, someone I worked closely with on my master's thesis many years ago. I don't personally find him that way at all. He is a liberal and very concerned with environmental and social planning issues, but does that make him an elitest? If you have read Beauty in Photography, I don't see how you can make that judgement.