My photographer of the week assignment will be on Ansel Adams. Along with extensive work in landscape photography, he was also a renowned environmentalist, author, and teacher. In his formative years, he read about the transcendentalist philosophies of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Reading Thoreau's works in particular gave him a deep-set love of nature for his entire life, which would be reflected in his photography. Adams was also a proponent of John Muir, a naturalist who was one of the primary voices behind the Yosemite Valley area being made into a national park. Muir was one of many sources of inspiration that led Ansel Adams to become one of the most famous photographers of the region.
His photography was well known for its detailed and nuanced
manipulation of light. Along with lighting, I noticed that his photographs are
of VERY high quality when compared to more contemporary sources. The best words
I'd use to describe his landscape shots especially would be, "crisp and
clear." Adams described the style of photography he used as “visualization,”
which was meant to “capture the artist’s feelings and ideas about a place or
object.”* In this process, he would visualize what a photo’s final print would
look like before exposure and printing. This method was meant to be “a poetic
equivalent of his emotional response to a particular place at a particular
time.”*
“Adams [was] not interested in duplicating the realistic light on
the mountain, but in capturing the mood and quality of the place.”*
Ansel Adams Gallery
*Source for quotes: “Master of Light” by Therese Lichenstein;
all 3 quotes are from page 16 of that book.
Photos taken from the Ansel Adams gallery on
shop.anseladams.com
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