Assignment 4- Virtual Essay (Robert Adams)

The photographer I have chosen for this virtual essay is Robert Adams. Adams was an American Photographer born in 1937 who is famous for his photographs of the American West, of which he photographed for 40 years. The quote given by Robert Adams that inspired me to share the following photographs I took on a trip to New York in 2006 was “The job of the photographer is not to record indisputable fact but to try to be coherent about intuition and hope”. To me, this means that one’s photographs do not have to take a literal context in terms of what the subject is on film, but they can offer a message that is not superficial and beyond literal meaning. Photographs of simple things should inspire hope in people who are truly about to connect with the image. The image may remind them of an event or an idea that causes inspiration.

As stated above, the following is a selection of photographs I took on a trip to New York in 2006 that I feel have a similar impact to the works of Robert Adams. He was famous for photographing the American West, so here is my interpretation of the American East in the same context in which he used.

Hope for Success:

The first image is that of the famous Trump Tower in New York City. Donald Trump is known as one of America’s biggest success stories in the world of real estate and business. He has created a huge celebrity surrounding his personality and his story, he is now known globally.

This image inspires a hope for success because when it comes to the “American Dream”, nothing spells success greater then a skyscraper with your name across it in golden lettering. This image gives hope to New Yorkers because they can know that one of their own was able to reach such levels of success and is able to prove it with symbols such as this. Even those from outside of New York, even outside of America can understand this message clearly through this photograph.

Hope for Solidarity:

New York has been through some tough times throughout history, from the great depression to the World Trade Centre attacks in 2001. All of these situations have brought on a need for solidarity amongst New Yorkers, in order to stand together as one and create a band of brothers to feel secure.

The image of the New York Yankees baseball team walking out on the field together, surrounded by a packed stadium of devoted fans gives one the hope that this idea of solidarity, pride, and brotherhood still exists within New York City, even after all of the hardships the city has faced.

This photograph symbolizes that bond that everybody hopes to have and it can inspire to strive for that bond if it has not yet been reached.

Hope for Continued Growth

This is a photograph of the front of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan. For those familiar with this building, it is also known as “St. John the Unfinished”. Since construction began in 1892, this Cathedral has never been completed, and though the construction hasn’t been finished, nor has it stopped. The building is constantly growing, being touched up, added on to, and fixed. Construction has never made a permanent halt.

For those familiar with this building, this image inspires the hope for continued growth. It inspires you to never give up and always strive for more.

The image below shows the continued construction on the building.

Hope for Survival

A very sad image indeed, this next photograph is one of “ground zero”, the location where the World Trade Centre buildings once stood, but were torn down by a horrible act of terrorism.

With the city under siege in such a horrible way, this landmark now gives those who had to experience this disastrous event a constant hope for survival. Nobody knows what will happen next, or when it will happen, so that hope to simply survive in one’s own land is ever present.

Hope to Rise Above

Though that hope for survival inspired by the previous photograph does exist, this photograph of Sean “P Diddy” Combs in a sky scraping billboard inspires the hope to rise above all fear, threats and hardship that have been, or may be brought on the City of New York.

This photograph is not one merely of a Sean John clothing advertisement, the image of a born and raised New Yorker rising above the city with his fist raised high in the air gives hope to those below it. It gives hope that will inspire them to live on and continue to rise above all adversity.

In Conclusion

Robert Adams was a great photographer and inspired a truly artistic style of photographer that left meaning up to the viewer. His works inspired hope in the hearts and minds of his audience, as do I hope that these photographs will have a similar impact on mine.

Thank you for reading.

References:

http://www.matthewmarks.com/artists/robert-adams/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Saint_John_the_Divine,_New_York

*All photographs were taken by the author of this blog post and not taken from any outside sources.