Well, as one who knows the subtleties of Sierra light just as well as anyone alive, I often take issue with certain stereotypes. Some of Ansel's very best work was made somewhat later in life, in his 60's, although the sheer pace of it seems to have slowed down. But according to himself, the vast majority of his sales came from only about eight to twelve original images, which have been reproduced in various manner in great quantities. A lot of that transpired quite late in his life or afterwards through his Trust. His father in law owned Best Studio there in Yosemite Valley, which was basically a gift shop with ceramic chipmunks and lacquered pine cones and AA postcards. As a wild little kid, my parents wouldn't let me go in there lest I break something and they had to pay for it.
But Yosemite Valley is just 8% of the greater Yosemite Natl Park itself, which in turn is just one section of a much larger range containing many spectacular sights.
There are even two domes larger than Half Dome, but both a long ways from anything resembling a road. About six years ago I was in a portion of the Yosemite high country for a two week trip, when I didn't see another person for an entire week of it, except my backpacking partner; and it was more spectacular than Yosemite Valley itself. Ansel roamed some of those places himself when he was young. His greatest contribution to the Parks system was his photographic influence preserving Kings Canyon NP, which contains a lot more un-trailed real wilderness than Yosemite does. But as Eliot Porter's color photography gained dominance, it sparked contention between AA and Ken Brower over the proliferation of Enviro coffee table books. Perhaps a degree of jealousy was involved too.
Teddy Roosevelt could be a great protector of the land or its traitor. He was a politician who needed votes; and when it came to the fate of the Owens Valley on the east side of the range, he sided with the rapine water heists of Los Angeles. And when John Muir came to Yosemite, he ran a lumber mill near the falls for sake of a big hotel there. Incidentally, my babysitter as an infant, who was in her 90's at the time, was the first white woman ever known to enter Yosemite, when she was just a little girl.
But AA had deep respect for his subject matter. Yeah, sometimes it came out a little too theatrically printed for some of us; but he was at least trying to replicate his own sensitive feel for the light. By comparison, when Avedon came touring the West he was treating it like a bug collection, collecting specimens matching East Coast stereotypes - a portable studio instead of an insect net. Blank white says it all. He didn't see a thing.
