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    What can Ansel Adams’s enduring photography teach us in the age of Instagram?

    With an oeuvre that’s both innovative and enduring, the US photographer Ansel Adams is almost universally regarded as a master of his craft and a pioneer in photographic art. Because his black-and-white landscapes have become so ubiquitous – commonly found on postcards, computer backgrounds and doctor’s office walls – it’s easy to take the beauty of his images for granted. But as Evan Puschak (also known as The Nerdwriter) shows in this video essay, there’s perhaps never been a better time to re-examine the careful, deliberate approach Adams took to his work.

    Video by The Nerdwriter

    5 May 2016
    Painting of a woman in a pink dress lying in a field of tall grass, gazing at distant buildings under a grey sky.

    videoArt

    ‘I built the ground thinking of her’: the story of Andrew Wyeth’s ‘Christina’s World’

    8 minutes

    Black and white photo of a person in glasses and military attire standing in front of the Hollywood sign.

    videoArt

    When East met West in the images of an overlooked, original photographer

    9 minutes

    Close-up of a child lying in grass with eyes closed, holding a string tied to a beetle on their forehead, surrounded by greenery.

    videoFilm and visual culture

    Gordon Parks found a ‘weapon’ against poverty and racism in a secondhand camera

    7 minutes

    A split image showing a woman in a green room with a gramophone, next to an artwork of a man sitting in a sunlit room.

    videoArt

    Edward Hopper came of age with cinema. As an artist, he left a lasting mark on it

    12 minutes

    Painting of a dimly lit diner at night with four people, three customers and a server, visible through large glass windows.

    videoArt

    The flickering ray of hope in the stark loneliness of Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks

    8 minutes

    Painting of two men cloaked in dark coats gazing at a crescent moon, standing near a large gnarled tree in an eerie twilight landscape.

    videoBeauty and aesthetics

    Why Caspar David Friedrich pits nature’s grandeur against the humble human

    7 minutes

    Black-and-white photograph of an elderly white man sitting next to a Black child, who is holding fingers to their face. Both look directly at the camera.

    videoArt

    David Goldblatt captured the contradictions of apartheid in stark black and white

    15 minutes

    Painting of a dimly lit bar with a billiard table, several patrons at tables, and a clock on the wall above a door.

    videoArt

    Ugly on purpose: the intentionally drab desperation of Van Gogh’s ‘The Night Café’

    7 minutes

    Painting of a garden party with people chatting near a yellow house, some holding drinks. Trees and more guests in the background.

    videoArt

    At 95, an artist paints swiftly to capture the fugitive light

    6 minutes