Moonrise, Hernandez, Moon and Half Dome…photos that have become icons are displayed with Ansel Adams less famous work at the Ansel Adams exhibit at the Harry Ransom Center. After watching the football game (whew that was close) I headed down to the Harry Ransom Center
Adams, who almost pursued a career as a concert pianist, viewed the negative as a musical score subject to multiple interpretations. The exhibition of 138 photographs, printed by Adams toward the end of his career, is the largest known collection created by Adams himself. Pictures printed (or re-printed) during this part of his career are are darker, with much more contrast, and they are much more dramatic. For example in the displayed print Moonrise, Hernandez picture the sky has been burned to black to highlight the moon–in earlier prints you could still see the clouds. Surprised? Thought all those Adams pictures were unmanipulated prints (after all this was long before Photoshop)…Ansel Adams book Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs provides an excellent look at the amount of work that went into creating his photographs.
As an aside since we just returned from a trip to Big Bend National Park, Adams prints from the park Burro Butte, Santa Elena Canyon, and Sand Bar, Rio Grande held particular interest.
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Ansel Adams: A Legacy |