IMAGES ©ADGER COWANS

BEING THERE Sitting in his packed-to-the-gills

©MARK LEE BLACKSHEAR

Veteran photographer Adger Cowans
remains poised for revealing moments
apartment/studio in Bridgeport,
Connecticut, photographer Adger
Cowans smiles as he launches in-
to a story from what he calls his
distant past. Legendary Vogue ed-
itor Diana Vreeland had summon-
ed him to her office for an assign-
ment. Cowans, who is 81 but looks
a decade younger, punctuates his
story with spirited hand gestures,
darting eyebrows, and the occa-
sional high-octane chuckle.
“This was in the 1960s, and she
had seen an exhibit of my photo-
graphs at a gallery on Fifth Ave-
nue in New York City. She thought
I’d be perfect for a fashion shoot,
so she called me in,” says Cowans
with a twinkle in his eyes. “But
when I walked into her office,
she did a double take ... like this.”
Cowans snaps his head up and
down sharply, and laughs. “I had
a big, out-to-here Afro back then
and always wore dark shades and
a Levi’s denim suit. I was cool.”
He loves telling this story, near-
ly doubling over in giggles be-
fore he comes to the punch line:

BY ROBERT KIENER

58 59
 “I immediately knew what she was think-
ing before she said a word. She told me, ‘Oh
my, Mr. Cowans, I am so happy to meet you.
But I didn’t know you were a Negro. I am
so sorry.’”
Cowans said nothing. Vreeland was embar-
rassed. She explained that the Vogue as-
signment involved photographing white fash-
ion models in the South. “I just don’t think
“I’m 81 and sometimes I think I’ve seen it all. But I’m still learning.”
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it would work out,” he recalls her saying. “It
would be impossible.” doesn’t let others’ perceptions of him get un-
“You know, that’s just the way things were
back then in the 1960s,” says Cowans. “There
were hardly any black photographers around.”
Before breaking into a hearty laugh, he adds,
“And to tell you the truth, at the time I wasn’t
too thrilled about the idea of going down
South to photograph white women, either!”
The story is quintessential Cowans. He
der his skin and uses his keen sense of humor
to lighten the mood. “I was black when I was
born, and I’ve had to deal with it all my life,”
says Cowans with a smile. “My mother said
if someone calls you a name, they don’t
know who you are. It’s on them, not you. It
was something I’ve never forgotten.”
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 “I have a confession about this picture. I took this picture when I was a teenager,
but it wasn’t until I was much older that I understood how much power it had
to move people and how I had to trust myself to find that power.”
The Vreeland story had a happy ending.
“I could have stormed out of her office, but I
didn’t. I knew what was going on, what the
deal was.” A week later she called and of-
fered him a semi-regular job photographing
fashion models at the magazine’s studios. “I
took it. It was good money,” recalls Cowans,
“but after a few months I got tired of it and
moved on.”
LIFETIME OF LEARNING
As he continues working into his ninth decade,
Cowans is widely celebrated as one of the
country’s most accomplished black photog-
raphers. The Columbus, Ohio, native earned
a BFA in photography from Ohio University
in 1958, where he studied under Clarence H.
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White Jr., and later with Minor White. He’s
won numerous awards and fellowships and
has a varied portfolio of commercial and per-
sonal work.
His lifetime of work was recently pub-
lished in the book “Personal Vision.” His pho-
tographs have been shown by the Metropol-
itan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern
Art, the Harvard Fine Art Museum, the In-
ternational Museum of Photography, and nu-
merous other art institutions. The New York
Times described one of his many one-man
shows as, “Boldly inventive and experimen-
tal ... and the artist is a craftsman to his fin-
gertips.” The legendary photographer Gor-
don Parks, for whom Cowans once worked,
called him “one of the most significant artists
of our time,” and noted, “Adger’s individual-
ism sets him apart, simply because he fol-
lows his own convictions.”
Flipping through Cowans’ six-decades-
deep portfolio is like taking a trip through
the history of modern American photogra-
phy. His portrait subjects include Malcolm
X, Dizzy Gillespie, Faye Dunaway, Katherine
Hepburn, and Ice-T. His subject matter is
also varied—the civil rights movement, Hol-
lywood celebrities (he was the stills photog-
rapher for more than 30 movies), evocative
Harlem street scenes, and personal artistic
studies of water and light. “I’m 81 and some-
times I think I’ve seen it all,” Cowans says.
“But I’m still learning.”
Spotting a picture he took in college gets
him reminiscing. “You have to remember
that in my college days there were hardly
any photography magazines or books back
then; Beaumont Newhall’s ‘History of Pho-
tography’ was about it. But we were lucky
enough, thanks to Clarence H. White Jr.’s fa-
ther, to be able to study actual prints made
by Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, W. Eugene
Smith, and others. This was before these
cats became world-famous.”
He pauses at one of his most famous imag-
es, a shot of four black children in Columbus,
Ohio, each with a balloon and a big smile.
“I have a confession about this picture,” he
says. “I took this picture when I was a teen-
ager, but it wasn’t until I was much older
that I understood how much power it had to
move people and how I had to trust myself to
find that power.”
He spotted the children on the street in his
hometown and saw them looking “longingly”
at a balloon salesman. “I knew they didn’t
have any money so I bought them balloons
and thought I might be able to get their reac-
tion. I was hoping to capture something. And
I did.
“Later I realized that every time I took a
picture I had been trying to capture a feel-
ing, an emotion—just like I did back then.
You take a picture with your heart and not
with your eyes. The eyes see what the heart
feels. You have to be there first—recognizing
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pain or joy or whatever—in order to show it
to the viewer. That’s the artist’s job and it’s
why I love my work.”
Capturing that emotion means being ready,
says Cowans, reaching for his new Leica
V-Lux to show how he spent years “practic-
ing” or “rehearsing” with his first cameras
in the 1950s and later. “I spent countless hours
picking up my camera—without film—ad-
justing the focus, setting the aperture, ad-
justing the speed, clicking the shutter. It was
like playing the scales when I learned to play
the piano. In the same way I have always
practiced seeing. I look at everything—light
movement, form—everything. I practice with
my eyes until it becomes second nature, like
riding a bike,” he says as he simulates ad-
justing a camera and clicking off a shot.
From his perch on the couch he raises his
new digital camera to his eyes and frames me
in the viewfinder. “I have to be ready for
those moments—those moments that fly by—
when someone or something would reveal
themselves to me,” he says as he presses the
shutter release. “It’s all about that moment.”
IT’S THE WORK THAT MATTERS “I have to be ready for those moments
While Cowans has received a slew of awards
and recognition for his work, he readily ad-
—those moments that fly by—when someone
mits, “I’m not a big, big name.” Indeed, while or something would reveal themselves to me.
praising his lifetime of work The New York
Times recently described him as “an import-
It’s all about that moment.”
ant but under-known photographer.” How
does he feel about that?
“I think part of it is that I don’t really care
about being famous. Never have,” Cowans says.
“Really?” I ask him.
“Really! Never did! I am 81 and still work-
ing and happy to be doing my own thing,
even if it’s in the shadows. It’s the work that
matters.” He lets out a loud belly laugh and
adds, “The work! Now, that’s what’s cool!” •
adgercowans.com
Robert Kiener is a writer in Vermont.
On ppmag.com
Adger Cowans explores the spiritual side
of water and light in his personal art
ppmag.com/cowans-personal-art
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