{"id":1463,"date":"2013-02-20T18:29:44","date_gmt":"2013-02-20T18:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rafal.net\/?p=1463"},"modified":"2020-06-18T19:33:54","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T19:33:54","slug":"ansel-adams-at-111","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/2013\/02\/ansel-adams-at-111\/","title":{"rendered":"Ansel Adams at 111"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

The Tetons and the Snake River by Ansel Adams. Image in the pub\u00adlic domain, via Wikimedia Commons.<\/p><\/div>\n

Ansel Adams, born on 20<\/span> Feb 1902<\/span>, would have been 111<\/span> years old today. His approach to pho\u00adto\u00adgraphy, requir\u00ading a pre\u00adcise tech\u00adnique, coupled with a sens\u00adit\u00adive heart, and a per\u00adcept\u00adive mind, is as fresh today as it was in his hey\u00adday, in the early part of the 20<\/span>th<\/sup> cen\u00adtury. Even a curs\u00adory search for his name on the web\u00adsites pop\u00adu\u00adlar with the more involved pho\u00adto\u00adgraph\u00aders, APUG<\/span><\/a>, Large Format Photography Forum<\/a>, or photo.net<\/a>, yields 20<\/span>,000<\/span> unique posts and com\u00adments about him, many of which are recent.<\/p>\n

Why is Ansel Adams so rel\u00adev\u00adant today? In short: Adams con\u00adtin\u00adues to inspire pho\u00adto\u00adgraph\u00aders. He has been inspir\u00ading me for a long time, so let me share my<\/em> per\u00adspect\u00adive with you, as my small way of say\u00ading a thank you<\/em> to this amaz\u00ading man.<\/p>\n

I think there are three aspects<\/em> to what makes Adams unique in the can\u00adon of the most import\u00adant pho\u00adto\u00adgraph\u00aders of all time: his artist\u00adic style, his pre\u00adcise teach\u00adings, <\/em>and a happy life.<\/em> It is the inter\u00adtwined nature of those three that makes the man so spe\u00adcial\u2009\u2014\u2009and so inspirational.<\/p>\n

Adams\u2019s bold, yet sens\u00adit\u00adive, some\u00adwhat roman\u00adti\u00adcised style<\/em> in his pho\u00adto\u00adgraph\u00adic art of land\u00adscape, shown in a vis\u00adion of a per\u00adfec\u00adtion that may have not even exis\u00adted at the time he took his most fam\u00adous pic\u00adtures, like Monolith, the Face of Half Dome,<\/em> or The Tetons and the Snake River,<\/em> is strik\u00ading for its pur\u00adity and bal\u00adance. He was not afraid to break new grounds, for example by visu\u00adal\u00adising, and then print\u00ading, his skies dark, or even deep black\u2009\u2014\u2009if you have only seen his prints in a book, or on a com\u00adputer screen, you must try to see one at an exhib\u00adi\u00adtion. Nothing will pre\u00adpare you for the visu\u00adal and emo\u00adtion\u00adal impact of those skies when you see them in his real, sil\u00adver-gelat\u00adin prints! Sometimes, he felt he had to erase the impur\u00adity of what he con\u00adsidered to be human-made scars on nature, like the let\u00adters LP<\/span><\/em> still barely show\u00ading in Winter Sunrise,<\/em> taken from the town of Lone Pine in California, which I see as an expres\u00adsion of his polit\u00adic\u00adal lean\u00ading towards con\u00adser\u00adva\u00adtion\u00adism. No mat\u00adter what the sub\u00adject might have been, he prin\u00adted his pho\u00adto\u00adgraphs to a level of express\u00adive and tech\u00adnic\u00adal per\u00adfec\u00adtion that tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal, wet-dark\u00adroom pho\u00adto\u00adgraph\u00aders have always been striv\u00ading for. Even as a mas\u00adter, he is known for hav\u00ading enjoyed the pleas\u00adure of accom\u00adplish\u00adment, when he had finally arrived at a print he was work\u00ading on, just like a child would. We all know that great feel\u00ading of sat\u00adis\u00adfac\u00adtion one gets when we cre\u00adate some\u00adthing that has reached the peak of our present abil\u00adit\u00adies. However, his con\u00adstant pur\u00adsuit of mas\u00adtery is as an import\u00adant part of his style, as any more eas\u00adily defin\u00adable char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adist\u00adic would be.<\/p>\n

Learning through prac\u00adtice, which he has always emphas\u00adised, is key to any craft, espe\u00adcially such a manu\u00adal one as tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal, film-based pho\u00adto\u00adgraphy. However, one has to start some\u00adwhere, and this is where the second aspect of what is so unique about Adams comes to mind: his teach\u00adings.<\/em> Adams wrote a lot, but noth\u00ading in pho\u00adto\u00adgraphy books quite com\u00adpares to his tri\u00adlogy<\/em> that sum\u00admar\u00adises all of his tech\u00adnique\u2009\u2014\u2009far, far more than just the Zone System,<\/em> and all of it in the shortest pos\u00adsible amount of space: The Camera<\/a>, The Negative<\/a>, <\/em>and The Print<\/a>.<\/em> These are con\u00adsist\u00adently the most often recom\u00admen\u00added three pieces of read\u00ading that any aspir\u00ading ana\u00adlogue<\/em> pho\u00adto\u00adgraph\u00ader would hear about. It is not easy to think through everything that a per\u00adson knows about a sub\u00adject, and it is even harder to put it in a small amount of space. It is much easi\u00ader to write big\u00adger, thick\u00ader books that are pop\u00adu\u00adlar nowadays, than to edit our thoughts down to just the bare essen\u00adtials, all val\u00adid\u00adated through own exper\u00adi\u00adence, logic, and sci\u00adence. There is no pad\u00adding there, every page is as use\u00adful today, as it has been in the past, even if some product names may have changed. However, it was not just the books. Adams was con\u00adstantly run\u00adning work\u00adshops, in which he taught his tech\u00adnique, through\u00adout his life. When I was going through my pains of want\u00ading to improve the qual\u00adity of my pho\u00adto\u00adgraphy in 1999<\/span>, it was those three books of his that have helped me learn how to work with large format film, and how to strive for an express\u00adive print. Sometimes I wish I had lived in his days to have atten\u00added one of his work\u00adshops. I am very for\u00adtu\u00adnate, how\u00adever, that I still have a chance to learn from his best stu\u00addents, whom he chose to be his assist\u00adants: John Sexton<\/a>,<\/em> and Alan Ross<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

As he points out in his won\u00adder\u00adfully hon\u00adest, funny, and a mov\u00ading book, An Autobiography<\/a>,<\/em> he has not really been fin\u00adan\u00adcially suc\u00adcess\u00adful until well into his 60<\/span>s. Many may not know that he has nev\u00ader earned the astro\u00adnom\u00adic\u00adal sums his prints com\u00admanded\u2009\u2014\u2009those prices were earned by art deal\u00aders and those who had the wis\u00addom to buy from him earli\u00ader in his life. Even in his very last years, he would only charge $800<\/span> for his finest prints\u2009\u2014\u2009his per\u00adson\u00adal record\u2009\u2014\u2009know\u00ading they could imme\u00addi\u00adately be resold for ten times, or more, than that amount. He was acutely aware of this\u2009\u2014\u2009he once gif\u00adted print of his to a friend of mine remind\u00ading him: Don\u2019t sell it now, keep it, it will help you buy a house one day.<\/em> Nonetheless, he has man\u00adaged to make ends meet, liv\u00ading without excess, but liv\u00ading in what his auto\u00adbi\u00ado\u00adgraphy oozes with: hap\u00adpi\u00adness.<\/em> Was there a secret to his life?<\/p>\n

What makes Ansel Adams so inspir\u00ading in the 21<\/span>st<\/sup> cen\u00adtury is pre\u00adcisely that he was able to live a full life that many people would envy now: doing mostly what he loved, and earn\u00ading just enough to hap\u00adpily get by\u2009\u2014\u2009cer\u00adtainly not liv\u00ading in poverty, but clearly without the grave entrap\u00adments of wealth. It must have taken a lot of wis\u00addom to pare down his needs and to focus on what was essen\u00adtial, in itself a mark of char\u00adac\u00adter. Though I have nev\u00ader met him, based on all that I read, saw, and heard about him, I real\u00adised that his life was focused on his artist\u00adic expres\u00adsion, which had sparked the hap\u00adpi\u00adness, and was fur\u00adther fuelled by the won\u00adder\u00adful response he was get\u00adting when he was teach\u00ading oth\u00aders, at his work\u00adshops and through his writ\u00adings. I see that Adams had cre\u00adated a won\u00adder\u00adful bal\u00adance in his life, where each ele\u00adment was in uni\u00adson with one anoth\u00ader, help\u00ading him feel con\u00adtent even in the toughest of times.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that is<\/em> a recipe for a happy life. It inter\u00adtwines oth\u00ader\u00adwise sep\u00adar\u00adate ele\u00adments: artist\u00adic cre\u00adativ\u00adity, per\u00adsist\u00adently dis\u00adcip\u00adlined think\u00ading, and an oblig\u00ada\u00adtion to relent\u00adlessly pass use\u00adful skills to oth\u00aders in the soci\u00adety. When I dream, I like to think of myself as still being able to teach oth\u00aders when I am in my 70<\/span>s and bey\u00adond. I hope to be rel\u00adev\u00adant because of my skills, and because of my work\u2009\u2014\u2009maybe less because of IT<\/span>, which will change and which will be for\u00adgot\u00adten, but hope\u00adfully more because of my pho\u00adto\u00adgraphy, through which I wish to share a way of see\u00ading the world as a com\u00adplex, abstract, yet a hap\u00adpily con\u00adtinu\u00ading place.<\/p>\n

Happy Birthday, Ansel! Thank you for inspir\u00ading me.<\/p>\n

Rafal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why is Ansel Adams so rel\u00adev\u00adant today? He con\u00adtin\u00adues to inspire pho\u00adto\u00adgraph\u00aders through a unique com\u00adbin\u00ada\u00adtion of his artist\u00adic style, his pre\u00adcise teach\u00adings, and a happy life\u2009\u2014\u2009which I believe we all yearn for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false},"categories":[43],"tags":[28,47,27,53,51],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1463"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1463"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1839,"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1463\/revisions\/1839"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}