Vincent Peri Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Today is Ansel Adams' 116th birthday, if you need a reason to party. Ansel Adams - Wikipedia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norma Desmond Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 Hey, thanks for the heads up, Vincent. One of my favorite quotes about Adams, ironically, comes from a detractor, HCB, who was a great photographer in his own right but in this case didn't quite seem to know what he was talking about or at least was judging two fellow photographers rather unfairly. “The world is going to pieces and people like Adams and Weston are photographing rocks!” —Cartier Bresson What Bresson missed was how important a social statement, in addition to an aesthetic one, Adams was making with his photography, a body of work that was steeped in environmentalism and his love and respect for wilderness lands. He gave the world a gift by putting the beauty of raw nature into our consciousness in such an iconic and reverent way. And he used his celebrity in many positive ways to help preserve that wilderness. We didn't need dialogue. We had faces! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Helmke Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 No one is good all of the time, we all have our share of throwaways. Adams did too I'm sure. Most of his work I've seen has been superb while much of what I've seen from HCB really isn't. I didn't know this was Adams birthday though, thanks Vincent. Rick H. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_hoyt Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 One of Amsel's assistants, Alan Ross or John Sexton, said it was very liberating to go through the boxes of prints and see run-of-the-mill photographs. I think in the Eloquent Light Adams stated, 12 good negatives [or prints?] a year, is a good crop. Paul 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent Peri Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 ...I think in the Eloquent Light Adams stated, 12 good negatives [or prints?] a year, is a good crop. Hmm... I'm 1/3 of the way through a 36 exposure roll. Guess I can take the rest of the year off... http://bayouline.com/o2.gif 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norma Desmond Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 Hmm... I'm 1/3 of the way through a 36 exposure roll. Guess I can take the rest of the year off... No. Keep going and you can just put them toward next year’s! We didn't need dialogue. We had faces! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul ron Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 One of my all time favorites. happy birthday ansel. The more you say, the less people listen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 My favorite dispute (in photography) is the various stabs at each other of Mortensen (link) and Adams (aka the "Antichrist" vs. the "plodder"). The best single book for Ansel Adams, IMHO, is his Ansel Adams 1984 Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs. ISBN 0-8212-1551-5 His Basics books are informative reads even for digital photographers, I think. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent Peri Posted April 17, 2018 Author Share Posted April 17, 2018 I hadn't heard of that book before. I just found a copy on eBay and bought it. Thanks for the heads up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kahn Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 Thanks for the reminder, JDM. I have the book but haven't read it for several years. I guess this would be a good time to start rereading it. A little late, but: Happy birthday, Ansel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgelfand Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 If any of you visit Tucson, AZ, go to the University of Arizona campus. The Art Department is a repository for many of Adam's prints AND negatives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Didier Lamy Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 Suggested reading for the occasion: Group f.64 by Mary Street Alinder, Bloomsbury2014; "Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham and the community of artists who revolutionized American photography" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 but haven't read it for several years I certainly find Examples to be a book worthy of regular re-readings, all the more so in that it is less focused on film, as film. In fact, a frequently (by me) posted quotation from it is I give full credit to the excellent scientists and technicians involved in the photographic industry. The research, development, and design aspects, as well as production, are extraordinary. However, very few photographic manufacturing technicians comprehend photography as an art form, or understand the kinds of equipment the creative person requires. The standards are improving in some areas, however: in my opinion modern lenses approach the highest possible levels of perfection, and today's negative and printing materials are superior to anything I have known and used in the past. I am sure the next step will be the electronic image, and I hope I shall live to see it. I trust that the creative eye will continue to function, whatever technological innovations may develop. Ansel Adams, 1983 Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs. Little, Brown and Company. p.59 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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