Great deal at Borders on Ansel Adams

c-mo

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I like looking at the work of master photographers. I'm also on a pretty tight budget (or else I'd be shooting 8x10 with a hired minion to carry everything for me ), so I always like finding books on the cheap.

This book: http://www.amazon.com/Ansel-Adams-Landscapes-American-West/dp/1847246591

... can be had for $20 at Borders right now (along with a number of other similarly sized photo books). Mine had it in a huge stack on the floor near the entrance. The Amazon reviews are fairly accurate... it's not collector-grade, but it sure does look good on my coffee table.
 

Barry S

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Shawn Dougherty

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I'm surprised to hear that. Obviously this is not a top of the line book but considering the price and scale I thought it was appropriate.

Barry S said:
I was going to buy that, but I thought the printing was very weak. Granted, it's an inexpensive book, but I'd rather just have the memories of the prints rather than reproductions that stray so far from the actual prints.
Click to expand...
 

joncapozzi

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Yeah! I found this over the weekend and immediately purchased it. Sweeeet deal!
 

SchwinnParamount

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Barry S said:
I was going to buy that, but I thought the printing was very weak. Granted, it's an inexpensive book, but I'd rather just have the memories of the prints rather than reproductions that stray so far from the actual prints.
Click to expand...

I have that book along with several other Little, Brown and Co. books. I don't find the printing to be bad at all. I've only had a chance to compare one of the prints in the book with an actual AA print and I found it to be spot on.

The book tha the original poster is excited about is not an "official" AA book which means either 1) images were made by scanning AA prints rather than the original negative or 2) images were made from AA negatives owned by the US government for a project they commissioned AA for in the 1940's.
 

Barry S

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I'll have to take another look, but I remember being seriously let down by the printing quality. Am I mistaken or is the printing on uncoated stock? The images seemed very flat and one-dimensional.
 

Barry S

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I took another look at the AA 400 Photographs book and I stand corrected--the printing was fine. Not stellar, but reasonably nice for a low-priced book. In fact, it seems like a good value. I may have mistaken it for another AA book that was recently released or a few of my neurons may be lost or broken.
 

Shawn Dougherty

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Barry S said:
Not stellar, but reasonably nice for a low-priced book. In fact, it seems like a good value.
Click to expand...

Those are pretty much my thoughts as well. And it's nice to see such a large amount of his work in one place. I think of it more as my Ansel guidebook
 

benjiboy

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My local Borders in the Uk are selling it for £20 ($29.52 USD)
 

Paul Jenkin

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Benjiboy,

I was in the Borders on Oxford Street in London last week and they were down to £14. Whether that was a one day promotion, I don't know. However, I had a look at the book and wasn't overly impressed at the print quality. It's a nice enough book and certainly excellent value but I'm 'keeping my powder dry' for a copy of the Ansel Adams 'In Colour' book for my birthday in March!

Not sure where you're based, but there's also some great bargains in Foyles on Charing Cross Road....

Paul.
 

TheFlyingCamera

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Sure... how about anything other than tree porn? Maggie Taylor, Brigitte Carnochan, Robert Mapplethorpe, Tseng Kwong Chi, Yousuf Karsh, Reuven Afanador... or say some of our very own folks here like Kerik Kouklis, Bill Schwab, Joe Smiegel, Gene Laughter? I could go on and on and on. There is so much more to this medium than pictures of trees and mountains, shot in black-and-white, printed using Zone System principles.
 

Sirius Glass

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Got it as a gift from my gf. It provides larger images than in 400 Photographs so that I can see the detail better. I use these so that I can see what I missed when I photographed in the same areas. It is a good teaching tool to see other compositions and points of view. Unlike Flying Camera, I can always learn something new.

Steve
 

TheFlyingCamera

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Sirius -

it's not learning something new if you keep on using the same lessons over and over again. It isn't bringing new ideas to the medium, it's merely polishing a craft. And craft without content, no matter how good the craft, will always be just something you get at a mall. Ultimately, the legions of Ansel wannabes have reduced his work from art to craft, from idea to technique.

I never said he was bad - I called him the apex of his movement - the high point. What I'm tired of is not him, but rather the mindless cult that worships him as if he were the first, last and only photographer of note since 1839. There are so many great photographers who don't get the chance to be seen because of all the Ansel Adams exhibits that take up time and wallspace in galleries and museums. But, to be perfectly honest, I've seen over a dozen Ansel exhibits, and gotten to print-sniff at my leisure. He's not THAT great a printer. Could I do as well? Maybe, maybe not. Probably not, but I also don't have a day job that lets me spend eight hours a day in the darkroom six days a week.
 

Sirius Glass

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Flying Camera,

Ansel Adams is not the only photographer that I study. Although I do find it hard to emulate WeeGee, I learn from his work too. Add Lange, all the Westons and many others to that list. The point of the OP was that this is a good price for one of the books about Ansel. When there have been good prices for other photographer's book, they get posted.

For the record, in the early '70's a group of my coworkers invited me to join them for a week in Yosemite to take Ansel's classes. Because I was so damned smart, I passed on the opportunity, since I already knew about the zone system and that the N-2, N-1, N, N+1, and N+2 were not practical for 135 photography [great for LF, but not 135].

Steve

P.S. If that is your only problem, then quit your day job.
 
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