Wednesday, May 27, 2009

stuff to do

Everyone's heard of the Life photo archive. It's a great resource and if you've been here before you know I love it too. One of my ultimate favorite online resources though, is the Library of Congress. The digital archives are amazing. You can find images, texts, all kinds of primary sources, for free and most are available for download. I have spent hours here and still am finding inspiration. This is one of my favorite finds:

Published in 1944, Born Free and Equal was Adams' address to the average American. A hope to give a face to what he called the 'broad concepts of American citizenship' and the human impact of the internment order. Largely ignored at the time, I still have yet to see this book get much press.

When I used to think of Ansel Adams, I never thought of portraiture. Now I do.

It's telling that the caption here is 'An American School Girl'. Adams' sensitivity comes through in his photography and his writing.


A wood worker.


Journalism student. It's funny how the uniform for journalism students hasn't changed much.



A garment designer cutting patterns.


Here's the link for the entire book (pdf). Check out the archives and make sure to tell me about the treasures you find.

5 comments:

Shini said...

wow I love when books are available like that online, although I can imagine how precious the real thing would be... weeell Ansel Adams is precious.:P Thanks for that.

AsianCajuns said...

Oh my gosh, GJs! This is amazing- AMAZING! I too just thought of Adams and his landscapes... and I call myself an art history student- bah!

I'll definitely be checking out all these links- Merci! You made my Wednesday!

Lauren said...

Thanks for the tip!

s.i. michaels said...

I had no idea Adams did portraiture much less the type that must have been heavily politicized at the time. They're beautiful and a little sad too. What a find.

Lauren said...

Hey, OT but I saw this in the NYT and thought of you:

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/05/28/fashion/20090528-phys-slideshow_index.html

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