Peter Adams: Photographers

Christian Vögt has a formula for everything - even down to how he accepts a commercial assignment. “A perfect job is fulfilled by three things: The job is interesting, the money is good and you like the people you are working for. You seldom get all three but never accept a job unless at least two of them are met.” I decided to question if he was a little trapped by his own formulae.

Margaret Thatcher changed forever the persona of England. “We are a less tolerant, less kindly, more ambitious people” says Ward. “The happy balance between the city whiz-kids and the welfare state is disappearing. Is England better off? If you measure what is desirable in terms of bigger and better houses and cars, then maybe it is.” Patrick Ward is one of a small number of photographers, from around the world, who photograph from a whimsical and humorous point of view. Hopefully, English whimsy won’t completely leave us.

At the time this portrait was taken, Jack Welpott was living in an old corner store in San Francisco. He sat in the store window and played country and western tunes on his harmonica while his dog howled along in harmony.

In 1936, one year after the US anti-lynching law was passed, Roy Stryker of the Farm Securities Administration sent Marion  Wollcott into the deep south to photograph African-American families in the pursuit of their everyday lives. In many ways, they were more frightened of her than she was of them. The fact that she was accepted into their homes is a great testimony to her gentleness and sincerity.