From towering granite monoliths to textured tree trunks, Ansel Adams’ renowned black and white photographs have offered generations the chance to see the beauty and importance of nature through his eyes.

Now a new exhibit at San Francisco’s de Young fine arts museum gives viewers a new way to connect to the artist himself. Ansel Adams in Our Time, on display from 8 April through 23 July, brings together more than a 100 of Adams’ works alongside 23 contemporary photographers who reflect and build on it. The exhibition also returns Adams to the city where he launched his career and continues the conversations he began about conservation and national parks in his first exhibition at San Francisco’s de Young museum nearly a century ago.

The exhibition will include some of Adams’ most famous works, including a photograph of Half Dome under the moon and a beloved self portrait featuring the artist’s shadow – complete with his arm extended to the sky, light meter in hand – against a rock face in Monument Valley.

Alongside, the gallery walls will also portray perspectives from new artists whose photos build on Adams’ work while seeking broader reflections on the natural world and the way people engage and impact it.

These include collages created by Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe, who layer photographs from Adams and others over more modern captures, leaving viewers with panoramic views of Yosemite through time. Catherine Opie’s photographs sharply contrasts Adams by casting similar subjects in a colored blur while CJ Heyliger, the exhibit’s youngest artist, showcased beauty in the mundane by focusing on details in landscapes less sought after, like glass scattered across the desert.

“It is great to see contemporary photographers taking up his legacy and looking at it, criticizing it, and finding new ways to approach these problems that Adams was addressing in his photographs years ago,” said Sarah Mackay, an assistant curator for the show.

‘Ahead of his time’

A master technician, Adams stewarded his images through an arduous photographic process, starting with lugging large cameras up steep terrain, enduring long waits for good light, and finally the metered dance – set to the beat of the metronome he once relied on as a musician – of darkroom development that granted him ultimate control over the final outcome. But in his writings and recordings, Adams credits his impact not to his technique, but to his eye.

“The whole world is, to me, very much ‘alive,’ all the little growing things, even the rocks,” Adams once wrote. “I can’t look at a swell bit of grass and earth, for instance, without feeling the essential life – the things going on – within them,” he said. “The same goes for a mountain, or a bit of the ocean, or a magnificent piece of old wood.”

His work has taken on renewed urgency as the iconic locations he photographed across the American west – including Death Valley, Grand Teton and Yosemite – grapple with a changing climate.

Positioning Adam’s work alongside that of contemporary environmental artists offers visitors a new framing of the climate crisis and the importance of conservation.

“The thing I find so exciting is realizing how ahead of his time Ansel Adams was in terms of thinking about these issues,” said Karen Haas, lane senior curator of Photographs Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Adams is perhaps most associated with Yosemite national park, and his images of its sweeping views and soaring granite slabs through the seasons helped shape the park’s identity while it in turn shaped him as a photographer.

Armed with what he called the “spiritual-emotional” connection to the park and other wild landscapes, Adams’ portrayal helped ensure the national parks would remain protected places. In 1975 he took his message to the White House, gifting President Gerald Ford with a print of Yosemite. “Now, Mr President, every time you look at this picture,” he urged, “I want you to remember your obligation to the national parks.”

National parks in peril

Today those parks remain cherished but also in peril, caught between the pressures of extreme weather and surging tourism. Photography that spurred appreciation for the wilderness has also helped flood these areas with footsteps. Growing crowds and tourist-catering amenities are increasingly at-odds with conservation efforts as parks push past their capacity.

Adams saw the problems unfolding even in his time and often resisted what he called “resortism” in the parks and their development for public use. In his images he typically erases signs of people to offer a more pristine view of the landscapes.

“We see Ansel Adams photographs and we don’t see them people’d,” Mackay said. “He is in some instances removing them from his photographs.”

Yosemite – one of the most visited parks in the nation – is a quintessential example of the difficult balancing act between enabling access and ensuring the lands are preserved for generations to come.

The past year has put the extreme seasonal swings that Yosemite faces on full display. In summer the park was shrouded in smoke from nearby wildfires, followed by a winter of snowstorms that closed down the park for weeks and damaged the winding mountain roads leading into the valley.

The curators feel strongly that Adams would have had a perspective to share about how these issues have unfolded. That’s why, they said, including new artistic voices has elevated the potential for impact.

“It’s bleak realizing how little has changed and how much work we still have to do,” said Haas reflecting on the enormous scale of problems posed by a warming world. But, she added, the exhibit has brought her hope, with its potential to both inspire awe and action. It’s a feeling she hopes viewers share.

“With this exhibition we can finally put this great master in conversation,” she said, “and let these contemporary figures show us the concerns that continue today.”

Did you know that 70% of photography students are classed as female and non-binary, yet only 15% of them are working in the professional photography field? On top of that, these professionals are reportedly earning 40% less than their male counterparts.

 The 70:15:40 Project UK has been launched by MPB, having partnered with leading global and UK organizations that believe change is urgently required within our industry, and highlighting the importance of redressing the barriers and challenges faced by women in photography and videography.

•  These are the best camera bags for women (opens in new tab)

 Excellent news for UK-based, non-male photographers, as an exclusive competition (opens in new tab) has been launched that will see four winners exhibiting their work, and receiving 12 months of phenomenal bursary support worth £40,000 ($49,500 / AU$73,200 approximately) that will cover all areas of being a freelance photographer – and includes funding, training, access to camera equipment, plus studio spaces and hire. 

Launched by (opens in new tab), the largest global platform for used photography gear, the 70:15:40 Project UK has been created with industry support from the SheClicks (opens in new tab) and UKBFTOG (opens in new tab) communities, online platform Peerspace (opens in new tab), the Royal Photographic Society (opens in new tab) and even the Centre for British Photography (opens in new tab).

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Four photographers from the UK – two professionals (classed as people who earn at least 80% of their income through photography or videography) and two other enthusiast or emerging photographers or videographers, will receive the chance to create a full photo series or short film on the theme of ‘change’, that will then be featured in an exhibition at the Centre for British Photography in London.

 The reasoning behind this new competition and bursary is an extremely important one, and the initiative’s name (the 70:15:40 Project) is reflective of the shocking facts and statistics that show even today, in 2023, only 15% of professional photographers are classed as women (with an even lower percentage of trans and non-binary photographers) – and are typically earning a much lower wage than men in the same field doing the same job. 

• For more statistics like these, see: This is not an opinion piece, this is fact – gender & photography edition (opens in new tab)

The big question of course is why? But I think we all know the answer. Here at DCW, we believe that the playing field should always be level for photographers, regardless of their gender identity, to have the same chances to compete for exposure and job opportunities that don’t discriminate on wage or workload. 

Despite what some might believe, non-male photographers are still treated very unfairly in the wider industry, smaller workplaces, and even by other photographers a lot of the time too! The same shoots that male photographers would often pursue can also be more of a risk for female, trans, or non-binary photographers.

• See: A wedding photographer speaks out against sexual harassment (opens in new tab)

It’s important not to disregard the facts and personal experiences of others, and remember that just because something isn’t happening to you; doesn’t mean that it’s not happening at all – that’s called privilege. 

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The selected winners of the competition will be provided with everything they might need to create this proposed photo series or short film, including the resources mentioned above but in specific details: 

Access to cameras, lenses, and accessories worth £25,000 from MPB, plus £2,500 in credit to reserve production space of their choice on Peerspace, membership and workshops worth £1,500 from the Royal Photographic Society, an exhibition at the Centre for British Photography in London worth £5,000, one-to-one mentorship worth £2,000 from Tracy Marshall-Grant at the Centre for British Photography, not to mention extensive promotion.

If this weren’t enough, the four winners will also be in receipt of £5,000 to spend as they see fit in supporting and furthering their photographic or videography practice, as well as Zoom workshops on how to navigate themselves on social media, pricing themselves as a photographer, and finding their workflow. 

To apply (opens in new tab) for this amazing opportunity, you’ll need to specify in an application process what you would produce for your take on the theme of ‘change’ in a series or short film, and show the judges a selection of your past imagery. 

The 70:15:40 Project UK is open to all women, trans and non-binary people residing in the United Kingdom. The deadline to apply is April 14 2023. 

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• You might also be interested in these 10 queer photographers you need to follow on Instagram (opens in new tab), as well as this collection of contemporary queer photography (opens in new tab), and discover the Photo campaign which aims to change how women are pictured handling money (opens in new tab).

 • Take a look at this Photo protest: Female and non-binary photographers tackle climate change (opens in new tab), as well as the Top 100 women in photography: RPS names its Hundred Heroines (opens in new tab) 

LAKE PLACID — The Lake Placid Institute has named the winners of their annual contest “24 Hours: A Photographic Interpretation of Life in the Adirondacks.”

The institute received 163 photos submitted by 96 students from 27 schools.

Henry Gibson, a 10th grade student at Northwood School in Lake Placid, received First Place for his photo entitled “Morning Commute.”

Zoe Abbott, 11th grade student at Tupper Lake High School, took Second Place for “Bubble.”

Jesse Marshall, 11th grade student at Lake Placid High School, was awarded Third Place for “Fishing in the Wild.”

A selection of 45 photos will be exhibited from April 7 to April 29 at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts. The photos will also be displayed on the Institute’s website: www.lakeplacidinstitute.org.

Nancie Battaglia, of Lake Placid, was the judge of the 2023 photo contest. Battaglia is an award-winning sports photographer who has had published work in Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, National Geographic, and Adirondack Life.

“The Great Adirondack Young People’s Poetry Contest” is open to all students in grades 1 through 12 and the Institute has received 246 submissions from 21 schools.

Several poems have been selected for inclusion in the 2023 edition of “Words from the Woods” an illustrated poetry book.

The 43 winners will recite their poems Saturday, April 22 at 2 p.m. at a reception to be held at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts located at 17 Algonquin Dr. in Lake Placid.

Judith Coopy, poet, will serve as a judge.

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For Bill Clark, lifelong passion for photography finds a home at museum

Bill Clark of Seekonk has a keen eye for art, which he expresses in his chosen mediums of photography and calligraphy.

After a career in the jewelry industry, where he said he worked closely with many top designers, Clark, 70, now keeps a studio outside of Providence. “I am now retired, but photography was always calling to me as a hobby after work, family and garden work.”

He describes his photography as having an abstract quality to it.

“Through an emphasis on the interpretive power of the abstract, my work seeks to tease and engage the viewer’s inner imagination. The resulting images are poetic and mysterious landscapes, revealing energetic patterns and delicate details,” he wrote in a statement for a past exhibition of his works called “Night Moves.”

His passion for his chosen media goes back to his youth. “I have been captivated by photography, calligraphy and hand-lettering since my early teen years,” he said.

“I enjoyed fiddling with all of the dials and settings on my father’s old camera. And at the time, the film had to be sent off to be developed and printed. I would get home from school and excitedly check the mail to see if my prints from the last shooting session had arrived.”

He’s been associated with the museum for more than a decade and is a huge fan of it.

“The premise for the organization is unique, in that it is always available to enter without cost, making it a valuable resource to the general population,” he said.

“Museum Executive Director Mim Fawcett and her staff are exceptional in running the organization. They are always finding creative ways for beginning and established artists to participate in the museum’s shows, classes and special events. And by doing this, the active and vibrant creative community has expanded to include artists well outside the city borders.”

One of his favorite museum memories “was the first time my images were recognized for the ‘8 Visions’ show. This was my initial view into showing art in a gallery. Fawcett met regularly with the selected artists, giving guidance and expertise, so that I felt perfectly comfortable in displaying and talking about my work on opening night,” he said.

He said he’s “thrilled and honored to be showing my work during the 100th anniversary celebration. I wish the museum another century of opening their doors to everyone who is interested in viewing and participating in a creative community,” he said.

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Puis-je appeler cela la maison ? Puis-je appeler cela la maison ? est une réflexion personnelle sur la place des individus dans la ville de Hong Kong, leurs relations et interactions avec les lieux, la façon dont ils les occupent, les traces qu’ils y laissent temporairement ou définitivement. A Hong Kong, faute d’espace privé, les habitants monopolisent volontairement l’espace public ou la nature, ils en disposent et les aménagent, les…

Exactly what does it take to be “lucky?”

I’m a firm believer that we all get opportunities in life. Now, to be clear, we don’t all get the exact same opportunities. Some get bigger opportunities than others. Some get more frequent opportunities than others. The fully unfair lottery of the circumstances of our own birth is beyond our control. We don’t control where we were born, which parents we were born to, or much of our built-in demographics. But, if you are fortunate enough to live long enough, at some point, opportunity will cross everyone’s path. Whether or not we take advantage of it, or even recognize it as an opportunity at the time, is often the difference between success and a dream deferred.

Of course, just like we can’t control the circumstances of our birth, the idea that we can generate our own opportunities can seem equally far-fetched. I can’t just decide I want to get the opportunity to be president, then just expect my inauguration to manifest itself on demand. But, even for something as grandiose as that, there are actually tangible steps within my control that I can do to help fate take a hand. Getting involved in student government to gain experience. Keeping my nose clean and free of scandal. Interning with a local politician. I have no desire to be a politician, so my knowledge of how to run a successful presidential campaign is limited. But you get the picture.

The same rules apply to us as artists. The truth about artists is that the world is absolutely full of us. Never in the history of man has the Earth lacked creativity or those wanting to use that creativity for profit. And, if you’ve made it your goal to make your living through your own creativity, there’s no getting around the fact that you have chosen a very crowded field on which to play. The “big” opportunities are going to be scarce. And it is inevitably going to feel at times like all the great opportunities are going to someone else.

So what can you do about it? To paraphrase Les Brown, all you can do is all you can do. And all you can do is enough. But you have to be willing to do it. The tools to create your own opportunities are in your hands.  But they require action to be effective.

Create Personal Work

One of the more peculiar things that tends to happen to professional photographers is that, at some point, it becomes easy to forget to create images just for ourselves. We usually begin as photographers, shooting images purely for fun. We do photography because we love it. At some point, we love it so much and we get good enough at it to consider making it our profession. Turning a hobby into a business necessitates certain shifts in how and what we shoot, with a greater emphasis on how each of our images will help further our commercial prospects. If you’re lucky, you are able to build a successful business and eventually can get paid every time you take out your camera.

But the hidden thing that very few people tell you is that, while commissioned shoots are what build your bank account, personal shoots are what build your legacy. It is when doing personal work, images without a commercial motivation that only exist because you wanted to push yourself artistically, that we find our “voice” as artists. Unbound from the demands of an art director or client, these passion projects are our opportunity to create work that is 100% our own. Depending on your genre, your commercial work may also offer a fair bit of authorship. But it’s when you self generate your own concepts that you really get to learn for yourself what lights your personal creativity on fire. And, ironically, these personal projects are usually the ones that are of most interest to your clients, anyway. They want to know what you bring to the table as an individual. They want to see the skills and vision that you personally bring that can elevate their project. Not what you can do when art is directed by someone else. They want to know what YOU bring to the project.

Doing personal work might seem like a waste of time or a waste of money. But, by doing so, you are creating an opportunity for your clients to peek behind the curtain. You are offering them a chance to see you in another way. Perhaps in a way they wouldn’t have considered if they only looked at your highly controlled commissioned work. By taking the initiative, you give them the opportunity to notice you. And, in return, you are creating an opportunity to be noticed.

Bet on Yourself

It’s cliché but true. If you don’t believe in yourself, nobody else will.  

Much to my parent’s chagrin, never in my life have I ever wanted to do anything with my life other than create art. I’ve had a million and one day jobs. But the only thing that has ever given my life any meaning is the art that I have created. Yet, despite this unbridled passion, even I can admit that pursuing a career in the arts is far from the most practical decision. If your goal is to make the most money possible, there are far easier ways to do so than to be an artist. If you like things like stability and certainty, choosing a freelance career where every day is a different adventure with the very real possibility that you’ll fall flat on your face might not be the best fit. That doesn’t mean you can’t still make art as a hobby. But choosing to commit to doing so as your main line of income takes a special level of leap of faith.

But the leap doesn’t stop just because you’ve finally admitted out loud that you want to be a professional artist. Maintaining that career means taking that leap again and again to keep ascending. This is a career where stagnation equals death. If you aren’t getting better, you’re getting worse.

Sometimes these daily leaps are things like choosing to invest money in a personal project, knowing there’s little likelihood of financial return. Other times, it’s submitting your work to a dream client despite your internalized fear that your work might not be good enough. Or continuing to submit images to a prestigious photo competition despite the fact that you haven’t been selected for 10 years running.

In short, you have to be willing to put yourself out on a ledge. Even if other people might think you are crazy for doing so, you need to put your belief in yourself. Is this a guarantee of success? Absolutely not. But, by putting yourself out there, you are again creating an opportunity. That big brand can’t possibly hire you if they don’t know you exist. Reaching out to them might end in rejection. But not reaching out most certainly will. You have to constantly generate the potential for new opportunities by constantly putting yourself in a position for opportunities to come along.

Get Out of The House

You never know who you’re going to meet. We tend to think of networking as a dirty word. We think of it purely as a matter of brown-nosing people with impressive titles to try to get us a job. And, to be sure, this is part of it. But networking can be as simple as maintaining healthy relationships with your colleagues and fellow photographers.  

As a serious introvert, socializing is not often my favorite thing to do. But so much of the work I get is because I met someone, who knew someone, who had a friend at another place, who had worked with this one guy, whose sister’s husband was a janitor at that place, which does the banking for that agency, and the agent bumped into the janitor in the hall, and somehow my name came up, and you get the picture.

Getting new clients isn’t always as simple as A to B. Often, it’s an accumulation of touch points that ultimately build up to what seems like an opportunity coming out of the blue. But it takes a lot of hard work to get lucky. And putting yourself out into the world physically can go a long way towards putting you in the right place when opportunity arises. 

Of course, it’s entirely possible that you could go to every party in town and never meet “the right person.” But what if you do?

Opportunities abound. Yes, even for you. The trick is to put in the work so that you are in the right place to receive them. Put in the hard work beforehand so that, when those opportunities do come, you are ready to take advantage of them. And keep an open mind and an open heart to allow in those moments that could change your life.

In the latest episodes of Andrew Budziak’s “Edge of Frame” series about urban wildlife photography, he continues his trek eastward across Canada, this time making productive stops in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and Montreal, Quebec.

In each episode of “Edge of Frame,” including the two most recent ones, Budziak has chatted with locals. It’s not just part of making interesting video content, it’s an integral part of his wildlife photography process.

“Talking to people who live in these cities is fantastic. One of the things I’m always curious about is how local people view urban wildlife. Do they love it? Do they not love it? Do they think about it at all?” Budziak tells PetaPixel.

“When you’re in a new place, asking ‘where’ often yields great results. Locals know where the animals are. No guidebook or website is as good as local knowledge.”

In Saskatoon, Budziak took local knowledge even further by chatting with local legend, Mike Digout. Known as “The Beaver Guy,” Digout is an expert on Canada’s iconic semiaquatic mammals, and spends considerable time observing and recording them.

In addition to capturing fantastic photos of beavers with Digout’s assistance and insight, Budziak also saw beautiful pelicans and prairie dogs.

It’s incredible how many different animals can be seen quickly when a photographer knows where to look and adds a healthy dose of good fortune.

“Your city is a wild place. You might not know that, but it is. Once you know where and how to look, you’ll be amazed at the amount of wildlife in your city,” says Budziak. “There’s something magical about having these encounters with wildlife in the city. Seeing wildlife in an urban setting can almost be a mythical experience.”

In beautiful Montreal, Budziak was treated to many wildlife opportunities. Despite its size and relatively dense population, Montreal has more than 1,000 local parks, including some huge ones, like Mount Royal Park (692 acres) and Parc Jean-Drapeau, the site of the Canadian Grand Prix.

Budziak photographed raccoons and foxes, both fun and exciting subjects. They’re also commonly found in urban areas, as they are highly adaptable.

“Our cities’ forests, waterways, and parks are full of life,” says Budziak. However, these animals are under constant threat by people, whether it’s cars, pollution, or other disruptive behavior. “We need to be actively protecting [urban wildlife] from things like development.”

Photography is a great way to raise awareness and help people learn about their often invisible neighbors.

“You can’t protect what you can’t see, and photography is a wonderful tool for showing people what’s out there,” Budziak says.

There are two episodes remaining in Budziak’s “Edge of Frame” urban wildlife video series. In previous episodes, Budziak visited Vancouver and Edmonton, encountering diverse wildlife including seals, rabbits, and even a scary run-in with a mountain lion.

Image credits: Andrew Budziak