ROBERT ADAMS WINS 2009 HASSELBLAD AWARD

Robert Adams, the photographer known for his images of the American West, has won the 2009 Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography, reports Bloomberg’s Niklas Magnusson. Adams, who is based in Astoria, Oregon, received the sixty-one-thousand-dollar prize at a ceremony in San Francisco on Tuesday, the foundation, which is based in Gothenburg, Sweden, said in an e-mailed statement issued yesterday. It described Adams as “one of the most important and influential photographers of the past forty years.” Victor Hasselblad, whose cameras were used for the stills taken by astronaut Neil Armstrong during his 1969 lunar landing, donated $9.4 million in his will for research in the natural sciences and photography. Victor’s wife, Erna, started the foundation in 1979, a year after his death. Last year’s winner was Graciela Iturbide, while Nan Goldin won in 2007.