Black
and
White and
Color
AN INTERVIEW WITH
PHOTOGRAPHER DIANA ADAMS
>
Introduction
Photographer
Diana Adams is a seeker of identities. Urban. Foreign. Temporal. Natural.
Her best work has the power to transfix and transport. For her fifteen
years of professional photography, she has become an area treasure.
This status was confirmed once again last year when Washingtonian
magazine listed Adams as one of the "Top Photographers"
in Washington. Now, it seems she is on everyone's list; e-mails pop
up avidly recommending her, and the phone at Studio Diana doesn't
stop ringing.
Increasingly,
Adams has set more time aside from professional activities in the
pursuit of fine art photography. The results offset any sacrifices,
and also serve to remind one that many an acclaimed artist was first
an accomplished journeyman firmly rooted in craft.
Last
year the second installment of a collection of works entitled Main
Street, USA was shown in Fairfax, Virginia. Two more bodies of
work are nearing completion: The Smithsonian Series and Blood
Strains. Drift is doubly honored to have Ms. Adams as a guest
for our premier offering, and to have a selection of her photographs
shown here for the first time as well.
If you
suggest to Adams that she captured the essence of someone or something,
she will shake her head in disagreement. She will then tell you neither
she, nor anyone else, captures any subject finally. In reality, the
photographer only obtains a fragment of the subject in a brief interval
of time.
In fact,
Adams is very conscious of time and the myriad ways it is depicted
through space. A certain use of space in a photograph will make the
sense of time more elastic. A certain angle will suggest time is either
abundant or scarce, elongated or abbreviated. In essence, time is
either savored or rejected through space. Adams tells me it is one
of the many issues a good photographer thinks about while working.
These
conversations took place at Studio Diana over a few days in February
2000. I want to personally thank Ms. Adams for the generosity with
her time, support, and photographs.
--JLT
< D
R I F T H O M E > < Top
of Page >
