Ansel Adams' famous quote

tkamiya · Jun 5, 2013

There is a very famous quote by the legendary Ansel Adams (that I can't recall the exact phrase)....

In this quote, he compared photography to music and basically said, the film is same thing as the sheet music but the printing is where performance happens.

Does anyone recall what exactly he said and where it was said?
Was that in "Negative"?

zsas · Jun 5, 2013

The negative is comparable to the composer's score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways.

Not sure when, where, etc, all's I know:
http://mobile.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/anseladams110426.html

Bill Burk · Jun 5, 2013

You might easily find the idea quoted in many ways. In the quote I found, he admitted that he said it often...

The Print, pg. 2.

"I have often said that the negative is similar to a musician's score, and the print to the performance of that score. The negative comes to life only when "performed" as a print."

Poisson Du Jour · Jun 5, 2013

tkamiya said:
There is a very famous quote by the legendary Ansel Adams (that I can't recall the exact phrase)....

In this quote, he compared photography to music and basically said, the film is same thing as the sheet music but the printing is where performance happens.

Does anyone recall what exactly he said and where it was said?
Was that in "Negative"?

"The negative is the score. The print is the performance."
~Uncle Ansel.

tkamiya · Jun 6, 2013

Thanks everybody. "The Print" then.

Poisson Du Jour · Jun 6, 2013

tkamiya said:
Thanks everybody. "The Print" then.

And "The Negative".

Jeff Kubach · Jun 6, 2013

I like it none the less.

Jeff

darkosaric · Jun 6, 2013

In any case this video is not available in Germany because of some music rights (since I came in Germany - every other youtube video is blocked "§$%&/*'Ä').

cheers,

ann · Jun 6, 2013

Here is a link with a lot of famous quotes

http://bighow.com/news/60-greatest-...lltime-great-photographers-the-success-manual

nsurit · Jun 6, 2013

A good place to start on these matters is: http://www.photoquotes.com/

Bill Barber

benjiboy · Jun 6, 2013

Adams said "the negative is just the score, the print is the performance"

vpwphoto · Jun 6, 2013

+1

zsas said:
Not sure when, where, etc, all's I know:
http://mobile.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/anseladams110426.html

And I have been live by that. This is why digital can be so bloody steril.
I once got into the Fred Picker way of perfect print duplication and record keeping of how a print was made.
For many years now I wing it, as happy accidents happen that way.

Ansel Adams' famous quote

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