East of Adams

Author(s)

Autumn WalterFollow

Major

Communication Studies

Minor(s)

Art; Sports Media and Communications

Advisor

Zoey Stites

Advisor Department

Art & Art History

Date

5-2020

Keywords

Photography; Artists; National parks; Large format; Acadia National Park; Ansel Adams

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Abstract

East of Adams is a photography project that explores the conservationist messaging ofAnsel Adams’s historical work and translates this work into shooting the Acadia National Park in Maine. Adams is well known for his documentation of our national parks in the western United States during the 1930s and 1940s. Armed with his large format camera he created his images in order to speak to the importance of conserving the natural beauty ofAmerica’s unique wild lands. Inspired by Adams’s drive to use photography in order tomotivate conservation, East of Adams will focus on similar goals within the Eastern United States at Acadia National Park.

I will be traveling to Acadia National Park to document its landscape using my 1940’s 4x5 large format press camera similar to Adams’s approach who solely used large formatcameras. Because of my efforts to emulate his style of photography, it will be important to work with similar tools. This photographic portfolio will highlight the natural beauty and environmental importance of Acadia National Park. Adams worked in a variety of styles, including dramatic wide angle and detailed close ups of the natural world. Adams often printed his images at a 1:1 aspect ratio, along with large mural sizes. Once I am able to travel to the park to complete the photographic work, I will be printing in a similar manner. My goals for my photography in East of Adams is to have strong and significant conservationist messaging. Our national parks are losing funding, and are facing ever increasing demands on their infrastructure, including Wi-Fi, food trucks and deliveries. I will be documenting the scenic landscape still left in Acadia National Park while working totranslate the beauty of its magnificent land. Adams’s work helped to preserve the land that he photographed, and this project’s aim is to add to the park’s lasting legacy by working toproperly document Acadia for future generations, as well as igniting a passion within mypeers to seek continuous forms of activism to protect America’s National Parks. I will besharing the work on social media and collaborating with local communities to exhibit the work in the future.