“It Either Touches Your Heart, Or It Don’t” — Adger Cowans

Adger Cowans turns 85 this September. Reading various articles on his life and work, it appears he has never rested a moment in his life! His web site lists one man shows, group shows, collections of still images for feature films, exhibitions of his painting, his books, his lectures, his interviews, special projects, media appearances, plus a long list of awards all this activity has brought to him.

He was one of the first African American students to earn a degree in Photography from Ohio University. There he studied with Photo-Secession founding member Clarence H. White Jr. and MInor White, who had distinct opinions about photography as an art form. He also attended the School of Motion Picture Arts and school of Visual Arts in New York City. Shortly after his academic preparation, he assisted for Gordon Parks at Life Magazine. For a time, he was associated with The Heliographers, which gave him access to Paul Caponigro and Jerry Uelsmann, and exhibited at the Heliography Gallery which put photography in a league with painting and sculpture.

Over the years, he developed somewhat of a spiritual approach. He worked to remain open, so that some internal energy would respond to the emotion of the scene, compose the frame, and trip the shutter. Otherwise, he found that all that would result is a documentation of objects without feelings.

Three Shadows (Detail) by Adger Cowans, from an illustration in Huck Magazine.