Photographs as Narratives

I was really pleased to find these photos all taken from "The Family of Man." This is effectively a photogaphy book first published by New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1955 and now in its 30th edition. Apparently every one of the 503 images displayed at the museum's exhibition have been reproduced in the book and these represent the "full gamut of life from birth to death with an emphasis on daily relationships" according to the book itself. Many of the photographs I've looked at really do echo what Montaigne once said: "every man beareth the whole stamp of the human condition." Interestingly he is aptly quoted in the book; a perfect story of mankind.

Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams is one of my all time favourite photographers. His compositions from the 1930's and early 40's, generally of Yosemite National Park in California, are so well balanced and thought through. It's incredible to imagine how such evocative images were created on a manual monochrome camera. Perhaps photography was an art form then and able to stand alongside landscape paintings.

                         http://connect.in.com/ansel-adams/wallpaper-gallery-22773-2.html