Thursday, August 16, 2012

Ansel Adams - Manzanar

Ansel Adams was best known for his transcendent landscape photography, but he took time out from that pursuit during World War II to visit the Manzanar internment center for Japanese Americans. According to the Wikipedia entry, "Adams was distressed by the Japanese American Internment that occurred after the Pearl Harbor attack. He requested permission to visit the Manzanar War Relocation Center in the Owens Valley, at the foot of Mount Williamson. The resulting photo-essay first appeared in a Museum of Modern Art exhibit, and later was published as Born Free and Equal: The Story of Loyal Japanese-Americans."

Although this is a very different kind of photography than Adams usually practiced, one can easily see that he just couldn't keep the artistry out of it.

This is the first of several sets of Adams' Manzanar photos, all taken in 1943.

 Entrance to Manzanar Relocation Center

Manzanar Relocation Center from tower

 Benji Iguchi with squash, Manzanar Relocation Center

 Birds on wire, evening, Manzanar Relocation Center

 Buddhist service, Manzanar Relocation Center, California

 Burning leaves, autumn dawn, Manzanar Relocation Center, California

 Calisthenics at Manzanar Relocation Center

Calisthenics at Manzanar Relocation Center

 Chicken farm, Mori Nakashima, Manzanar Relocation Center

Dressmaking class, Manzanar Relocation Center, California

1 comment:

  1. Ansel Adams was a famous American photographer who documented the true beauty of the United States in black and white. He is most famous for his work in Yosemite National Park. His work has been exhibited in many museums across the world and continues to be popular even today.

    Ansel Adams was born in 1902 to a family of photographers. When he was 12, his father gave him a camera because he showed an interest in photography at such a young age. After graduating from high school, he attended college and then worked as a private tutor until 1929 when he opened his own portrait studio with photographic equipment that had been left by his late father-in-law. It was during this time that Adams started photographing nature which led to him being one of the founding members of Group f/64.

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