Robert Adams Final Report
Personal Background: Adams was born in New Jersey in 1937 and raised in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado. He moved to Southern California in 1956 to attend the University of Redlands. He chose to major in English literature and went on to earn a Ph.D. in that subject at the University of Southern California in 1965. Adams grew up in New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Colorado, in each place enjoying the outdoors with his father. When he was 25, he was a college English teacher with summers off, he learned photography, choosing as his first subjects early prairie churches and early Hispanic art, subjects of unalloyed beauty. In his past he has spoken up on multiple political issues as well. He photographs protests such as organized labor and the Iraq war.
Style: Adams style is a dark gloomy kind of of feel. His pictures remind me a lot of breaking bad. Most of his pictures has very little saturation. The sky is a very common theme in his pictures you can see the sky in all of them. But its never the main focus of the picture. All of his pictures make me feel like he was going for a "dry" theme, as most of his pictures were taken in the desert.
Philosophy: His work in the philosophy of religion includes influential essays on the problem of evil and the relation between theism and ethics. In metaphysics, Adams defends actualism in metaphysics of modality and Platonism about the nature of so-called possible worlds. Religion is a clear theme in his work. The gloominess can represent evil.
Influences: “No place is boring, if you’ve had a good night’s sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed film.” Since i Heard this quote from Adam's it has helped me understand how to take something that no one thinks will be a good picture and make it into something beautiful. It has helped me understand the art of photography. I really enjoy his style and may looks to try to use it myself in the future.
https://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/robert-adams
https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/3233/robert-adams-american-born-1937/
https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/3233/robert-adams-american-born-1937/