Christmas at Hinky Dinky, Lincoln, Nebraska

About the Photographer

Alinder, James

American, b.1941

An active photographer for over forty years James Alinder has experimented with a variety of cameras, but he has created one of his most extensive bodies of work using a panoramic camera with 150 degree lens. In many of these images, including "Christmas at Hinky Dinky, Lincoln, Nebraska" (1971), Alinder portrays individual figures or small groups of people within their larger environment, making use of the extended format of the panoramic frame.

Alinder was born in Glendale, California and grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He completed a BA in Political Science at Macalester College, Minnesota (1962) and a graduate study program in Political Science and Art at the University of Minnesota (1964). Two years later he attended the University of Mexico, Albuquerque where he received an MFA in Photography and Art History, minoring in sculpture (1968). In 1977 Ansel Adams invited Alinder to become the executive director of The Friends of Photography, the visual arts organization founded in Carmel, California by Adams, Beaumont Newhall, Brett Weston and other noted artists and historians. In 1989 Alinder resigned from the position to focus on his own photography, and the following year he and his wife opened opened the Alinder Studio and Gallery in Gualala, California.