Ansel Adams’ boyhood trip to Yosemite National Park with a Box Brownie camera in 1916 triggered a lifetime’s fascination with photographing the grandeur of the United States’ wildernesses.
Big rocks, big skies, big weather - everything about Adams’ images booms size, yet the big revelation of his centenary exhibition at London’s Hayward Gallery is the smalll scale of his original prints.
In the downstairs gallery, Mississippi photographer William Eggleston captures big colour views of day-to-day minutiae. Here are 1970s desert cafes and beat-up Pontiacs, where a bird-like Southern lady sits on a rusted sofa surrounded by autumn leaves or a frosted freezer compartment yields cartons of Frosty Acres Tasty Taters.
William Eggleston and Ansel Adams at 100, Hayward Gallery, London, until September 22. Information: 020 7960 4242 www.hayward.org.uk.
