Lynn Adler

Lynn Adler is a documentary photographer and filmmaker whose work focuses on real communities and everyday life. She is a co-founder of Optic Nerve, a San Francisco–based collective that documented social and political movements, and later helped create Ideas in Motion, where she produced long-form documentary films.

Her career began in the late 1960s after a personal turning point led her to photography, and she has since spent decades working across film and still images, often exploring overlooked people and places. Her projects have taken her around the world, but her work remains grounded in close observation and long-term engagement with her subjects.

Adler lives in Berkeley, California, and continues to photograph, with a focus on capturing moments that reflect the social, cultural, and personal realities of the people she encounters. (Website, Instagram)