Robert Adams
The work of any photographer will always carry the influence of others. Anyone with a deep love of the topic will seek out excellence and draw on examples from of those who have gone before. This is not in order to copy them but to learn from their experience and views and develop their own thoughts about what you wish to achieve. I consider photography as an embodiment of philosophy and thoughtfulness which brings a focus to work.
As my interest grew over the years I found ways to acquire knowledge through books, exhibitions and meeting others. However the internet changed everything in terms of accessibility to knowledge and when I retired I started to read, look and listen more attentively. Other pages of this blog will eventually reveal other influences but for this one I wish to highlight the American photogrpaher of the mid-West Robert Adam.
Adam has both worked as a photographer and taught and written extensively. Now in his eighties he is still working.
Among his books Beauty in Photography, originally published in 1981 and re-published with a new preface in 1996 by Aperture, was significant for me. In it, talking about landscapes, Adams describes his three verities or truths for considering a photograph. He says that they should contain geography (whether that is a room, a landscape or a box is not important), autobiography (something of the photographer themselves) and metaphor - a symbolism that adds meaning. I cannot now take a picture without considering this and it influences what I look for and see in the work of others too.
You can find out more about Adams here :- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Adams_(photographer)
as well as watch a short interview accompanied by some of his photographs here :-
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