Arts

Pennsylvania Photographer Wins Ansel Adams-Inspired Modern Landscape Black & White Photography Contest

More in Arts: CCD Presents: Poetry by Peter Venable May 4, 2017 AFAS Center for the Arts opens in the Arts District May 4, 2017 ...

by Camel City Dispatch

By Staff

black water reflection - glenn thompson
black water reflection – glenn thompson

A photographer from Butler, Pa. has won a photography contest inspired by “Ansel Adams: Eloquent Light,” an exhibition of Adams’s photographs on view exclusively at Reynolda House Museum of American Art.

Glenn Thompson’s “Black Water Reflections” received the most votes of three finalists in the “The Modern Landscape: Black and White Photography Contest,” a competition that celebrated the inspiring beauty of the magnificent American landscape, exemplified by the work of Adams. The photography contest was part of Modern Automotive’s major sponsorship of the exhibition. Rob Fowler, president of Modern Automotive, made the announcement at Reynolda House on International Museum Day, May 18.

More than 300 individuals submitted photographs to the competition between Jan. 1 and March 10. A panel of three jurors, all professional photographers and artists, reviewed all entries and selected three finalists: “Mesa Arch Sunrise” by J.J. Raia from Cary, who received third place; “Steadfast” by Sharon Canter from High Point, who received second place; and Thompson’s “Black Water Reflections.” Finalists were on view for a public voting period at several locations throughout the Piedmont Triad through May 13, and more than 1,100 votes were submitted.

The exhibition “Ansel Adams: Eloquent Light” will be on view at Reynolda House through July 17. One of the world’s most widely celebrated photographers, Adams (1902–1984) created uplifting images that deftly illustrate the ideal of a glorious American West before tourism and extensive development marked the land. Inspiring beauty was Adams’s ideal; light was his means. A consummate technician, he took pains to “previsualize” his results at the time he exposed each negative, seeking not to reflect the scenes before his camera as much as his emotional embrace of nature’s magnificence.

The 37 breathtaking photographs by Adams in “Ansel Adams: Eloquent Light” have never been on view together, and Reynolda House is the exhibition’s only venue. The debut of “Ansel Adams: Eloquent Light” in North Carolina coincides with the centennial of the National Park Service, which marks its 100th anniversary in August 2016. The National Parks Conservation Association has joined Reynolda House as the National Outreach Partner for the exhibition.

“Ansel Adams: Eloquent Light” has been organized by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas. Reynolda House gratefully recognizes the many generous sponsors who helped bring this exhibition to North Carolina, including Major Sponsors Charles H. Babcock, Jr. Arts and Community Initiative Endowment, Jerome and Beverly Jennings, and Modern Automotive; Contributing Sponsor Phoenix Packaging, Inc.; and Exhibition Partners Jeffrey and Sissy Whittington, and the Ecology Wildlife Foundation.

You can read CCD’s review of “Ansel Adams: Eloquent Light,” HERE.

Leave a Comment