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In her own words . . . .
When I started photography, I was an angry Hollywood actress. I’d
failed to make acting on film a source of enlightenment. There were no
mindful roles for women to play. And when I realized that film was just a
bunch of brainwashing equipment, I became very disillusioned. It took a
lot of meditating for me to find myself. Eventually, I realized my
freedom wasn’t going to come through acting because I was doing scripts
conceived by men who were selling women short in the system. In order to
survive, I had to find another technique. Aloma told me to pick up a
camera and get in focus. I knew that I needed an expression. I’d done tai
chi, zazen, macrobiotics, kundalini yoga, astrology, scientology and
Reichian therapy. I’d studied with Tibetan lamas in the Himalayas. Still,
I had no expression besides acting which gave me an objectivity toward
the universe. I was extremely subjective. Everything had a gross
importance to me and it was really crippling. Finally, I began to focus
with my camera.
In the summer of 1974, I went to Boulder, Colorado where I did tai chi
at Naropa Institute and lived in the mountains photographing streams,
rocks and mountain folks. I felt comfortable there, I felt non-
competitive. I shared what I had. I lived a simple life. I love the
mountains. They gave me strength in my roots that go deep, deep down in
the ground. I healed myself.
My goal is enlightenment. The camera is a tool, to express love. Each
picture is a part of me and I live with it. In good acting, like good
photography, when I find the moment it’s orgasmic. I experience total
merging of consciousness with the part I play or with the person I
photograph. It’s a sensual, sexual, spiritual experience. It’s the heart
charka. I embrace the subject with my camera and feel the essence of
the soul allowing all her pain and joy to come through my eyes. I as the
empty camera am filled with her being.
Books and Exhibitions
Cynthia MacAdams' work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions
throughout the United States since 1977.
Four books have been dedicated to Cynthia MacAdams photography.
Mayan Vision Quest is a collection of exquisite Mayan Temple sites
published by Harper Collins, 1991. The acclaimed Rising Goddess, Morgan
and Morgan, 1983, shows MacAdams mastery of nude subjects. In
Emergence, published by Chelsea House, 1979, MacAdams captures the
spirit of emergent women, including Mary Ellen Mark, Gloria Steinem,
Patti Smith, Kate Millett and others.
 VISIT Cynthia Macadam's
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