CB Adams answered the call for entry for Framations Gallery’s XVIII “Beyond the Lens” all-subject, juried exhibit of photographic works in all disciplines. The juror for this year’s exhibition is Michael C. Daft, who believes “Good images should speak for themselves in their own language.” This is the fourth time Adams has works juried into the annual “Beyond the Lens” exhibition.
Adams works primarily in film-based black and white photography, but his art practice includes a consistent amount of color photography, in both film and digital formats.
Such is the case with the two photographs that Daft chose for this exhibition — “Cottontail,” a 20x020 print made with a 1972 Nikon F2 Photomic, 21mm Nikkkor lens and Cinestill 400D film, and “Barn In Landscape,” a 16x20 print made with a Leica M8 and Summicron 50mm lens.
“Cottontail” by CB Adams. Archival photograph from film negative.
Adams often works with the F2, a camera he acquired used from Creve Coeur Camera while he was in high school. It took him close to a year working in the lumber department of Central Hardware to purchase the used body and a new 85mm Nikkor portrait lens, which he still has as well. “Cottontail” was taken during the 2023 Gay Easter Parade in New Orleans, one of Adams’s top-three favorite cities.
“Barn In Landscape” by CB Adams.
The M8 was Leica’s first digital camera, released in 2006. Adams works with the M8 because its sensor and software were designed to yield a Kodachrome-like image. “Barn In Landscape” is a dreamy, Todd Hido-like image of a Missouri barn on a story day.