[Linker]

http:/www.anseladams.com/

[Dean]

I once had an opportunity to observe Ansel Adams at work along the trail that leads to Vernal Falls in Yosemite.  My brother and I came around a turn in the trail, and there set up, with his camera on a big tripod, off to the side taking a picture of a wildflower was the one and only Ansel Adams, bushy beard and all.  He spent the better part of an hour waiting for the light to be just perfect and just prior to snapping the photo, he used a little misting device to spray the flower with water so it would have the appearence of early morning dew. One of the moments you never forget or you might say, a true Kodak moment that took 45 minutes. 

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Dean - working in Utah for awhile and feeling like it is a 'paid' vacation.
http://www.summitpost.org/user_page.php?user_id=1160

[salish]

Linker - this link doesn't seem to work for me. Keep getting "cannot locate server". I'll try again later....

Great story about Adams, CH. Do you know when he passed away?

Cliff

[polarbear]

Looks like and extra slash is needed.

http://www.anseladams.com/

I didn't see a corresonding site for damseladams.

[Dean]

Yeah Cliff, he's been dead almost 20 years (not as long as Elvis)   He was in his 80's I remember.  My younger brother thought that when I saw Ansel on that trail that I'd said "Hey look, its as_____ Adam's, in stead of Ansel.  My bro has his large pics all over his house but we still get a chuckle when we recall that incident.

Sorry Polarbear, to my knowledge, there is no Damsel Adams, although its a darn shame. 

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Dean - working in Utah for awhile and feeling like it is a 'paid' vacation.
http://www.summitpost.org/user_page.php?user_id=1160

[salish]

Wow, that definitely counts as a "brush with stardom". Wish I could say I ran into somebody that cool. Oh wait, I went in the "log ride" at Knott's Berry Farm with Brooke Shields and her mom. But maybe I really don't want to admit to that....never mind.

PB, could the "damsel adams" be a new fly? A cross between a good old Adams Dry fly and a damselfly?

[polarbear]

Cascade Hiker's comment about Ansel Adams waiting for the light to be perfect is interesting.  Come to think of it, that's one of the things that stands out in all of his photos--interesting lighting.

Salish, it's possible that Damsel Adams could be a type of fly, though this post makes me think Damsel is a photographer.

[Damsel Adams]

Ansel was my hero when I first took up photography. I have several of his books, including "Yosemite and the Range of Light" and "Portfolios of Ansel Adams". He combined left and right brain to create his images, then wrote about it to teach us other buffoons. His classic books "The Negative", "The Print", and "The Camera" were read numerous times by this aspiring photographyer.

His zone system where he previsualized the print, before pressing the shutter, is a method still used by b/w photographers (mosly using large-format cameras). It involves placing dark portions of the image on zone 10 (for instance), and light portions on zone 1, and everything in between. Then if the scene didn't have the right contrast, he would adjust the exposure and negative developing, so that he would get the image needed to create the print he visualized. He considered the negative to be like the score, and the print to be like the performance. His training as a classical pianist affected how he treated art.

Adams, along with Edward Weston and some other photographers in the 1930's, started up a group called f/64. The vogue at that time was fuzzy images, lack of detail, lack of precision. Group f/64 rebelled against this, instead pushing for sharp detail, quality images, and well-composed subjects.

He is most famous for his large-scale dramatic images of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. I was sorely disappointed in the early 1980's when he passed away. But he did bequeath his negatives so that others could "perform" them.

Photographers owe a lot to this giant of a man. If you get a chance, pick up an Ansel Adams book at your local library or bookstore, and try not to drool over the pages.

That's the buzz from fly headquarters.

[MCaver]

I highly recommend Ansel Adams' autobiography. A very good read that covers his childhood in pre-sprawl San Francisco, working with other photographers, and all the other people he met.

[Newt]

I remember reading a number of times how Adams would compose and then just sit and wait, sometimes for hours, just for the light. It sure paid off.

Adams and Weston, top of the line B/W photographers IMO.

NN

[Smokey]

Then again, I have read that "Moonrise Over Hernandez" was caught by chance when he was driving down the road. He barely got the camera set up to take one picture and before he could take another, the light had disappeared.

I grew up around the Sierra and I think B&W captures my image of that big granite better than color.

[McPilchuck]

"I remember reading a number of times how Adams would compose and then just sit and wait, sometimes for hours, just for the light."

Composition on the subject and then lots of patience is a virtue the masters know or knew very well.  Adams photos are superb!

McPil

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in the granite high-wild alpine land . . .
www.alpinequest.com