Ansel Adams: "Rose and Driftwood, 1932"

[benveniste]

I have a print of this hanging in my home. Admittingly, it's in the powder room off the mud room, but there it hangs.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Put the image in question in its actual historic context. As a prime example of the f/64 ethos, with its dramatic up-close contrast of texture and softness, it's an iconic and historically-important image. Probably none of us could afford a real print of it today anyway, that is, a print made by AA himself instead on one of his assistants or via press reproduction. But web pontification is always cheap.

 

[Mike Lopez]

Oh, I see what mean. Ansel accelerated the universe to close to the speed of light so that he could warp the scene and the decelerated the universe. I got. Let me get my tin foil hat.

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You actually took the time to post this gibberish. Wow. Slow day, looking for a fight? I mean you've only posted here almost 35,000 times already. Must be bored.

 

[Sirius Glass]

You actually took the time to post this gibberish. Wow. Slow day, looking for a fight? I mean you've only posted here almost 35,000 times already. Must be bored.

If you are not interested, do not read it. The titles clearly let you know the source and the content.

 

[Mike Lopez]

Right--I'm not going to read your nearly 35,000 posts. But when you call me out unprovoked like that, I'm going to reply. I expanded at length at what I feel is contrived about Adams' work, and you added nothing but childish petulance in response. If your feelings were hurt that not everybody stood in awe of the photograph, maybe your skin is too thin.

 

[MurrayMinchin]

I remember reading something by Ansel where he said (this is a 40 year old memory, so probably not very close) "If I am to photograph a rock, I must present a rock".

At about the same time I discovered Minor White's work, so found the quote a bit limiting/shocking. There's nothing wrong with Ansel feeling this way of course, as we all put limitations on ourselves and call it our style, clearest means of expression of images seen within, etc.

Agree that it should be seen in a historical context.

 

[MurrayMinchin]

I have been eating coconut oil in the belief it may at least round off the edges of dementia, which my father had. Looks like it's working!

“If I have any credo it may be this: If I choose to photograph a rock, I must present a rock. The print must augment and enlarge the experience of a rock, stress tone and texture, yet never, under any conditions ‘dramatize’ the rock, nor suggest emotional or symbolic connotations other than what is obviously associated with the rock.”

https://www.nytimes.com/1979/09/18/archives/going-out-guide.html

 

[Pioneer]

They were both great artists and I am so very glad that we can enjoy them both. I am personally more partial to much of Imogen's work but there are a number of Ansel's photographs that are absolutely stunning as well.

I think a good comparison of people or portrait photography is to compare Ansel's work with Dorothea Lange at Manzanar. It is very clear who had spent their time polishing their documentary credentials. What I do find rather amazing though is how well Ansel Adams does at documentary work though it certainly was not his forte. He was a real professional.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Anyone who takes a bit of time to research the history beyond mere stereotypes will soon realize that AA did quite a few truly iconic portraits. Entire books have been published of them. They are of course, in his own style, which not everyone appreciated back then either. For example, he dared to show every pore in the face of Carolyn Aspachner using harsh direct lighting back when that constituted something rather shocking to "softie" norms. It was ridiculed as "the great stone face", but to me and many others today, seems absolutely stunning, and certainly portrays her personal beauty in a highly effective manner, even if nonconventional. And generally with AA's people pictures, there is a distinct amount of objective distance, psychologically, from his subjects, but never cold aloofness.

By contrast, Dorothea Lange was dreaded even by members of her own family for endlessly stalking them with a camera. She had a reputation around here for getting into people's faces unwanted. But that trait, along with a true degree of sympathy for migrant workers and the unemployed finally worked to her advantage. She was kicked out of Manzanar for not duly keeping a formal barrier of objectivity. Ansel had no choice but to honor it if he wanted to remain and complete his project there. So he integrated it into a more pictorial or scenic approach. That fact needs to be taken into account when making Manzanar comparisons. The most intimate photos were taken by Toyo Miyatake, himself an internee using a homemade camera. The military camp director formed a personal friendship with him, so deliberately turned a blind eye to his activities, including film being sneaked in. But as far as outside photographers went, and any publicity generated due to that, even the camp director had to be careful about officially codified boundaries.

Several times a week I interacted with a nephew of Dorothea's on a business basis and heard lots of stories. And a couple times I was consulted on remodeling work on her home up on the hill, when her second husband was still alive. Same iconic big live oak as in the old pictures, with the deck around it high above a ravine. Her images are considered the crown jewels of the Oakland Museum collection, which is probably the best collection anywhere in terms of older well-known West Coast photographers.