Motivation Monday - Ansel Adams
>> Monday, September 28, 2009
"Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer - and often the supreme disappointment." - Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams (1902-1984) is a very well known American photographer and environmentalist. He developed the zone system to determine the proper exposure and adjust for contrast in the final print. He also founded the Group f/64 (with other photographers) which created the Museum of Modern Art's department of Photography. He was most famous for his incredibly beautiful landscape photographs of Western America.
It is not only his skill that inspires me, but his unbelievable patience. Adams used large-format cameras which were difficult not only because of their size and weight but also because of the setup time required to operate them. I honestly don't know how many photographs I would be able to take with such equipment as I would get incredibly frustrated very quickly.
The above photograph is one of his more famous ones, or at least most publicized, but it also happens to be one of my favourites. The contrast and lines within the image, as well as the texture/pattern on the bottom dune is simply breathtaking. It draws you into the image and truly makes you feel like you have been to this place and would know what it was like there. Adams rarely had wildlife in his landscapes. Instead he relied not on technique or subject but vision - the vision of the photograph. He was a believer that to create a great photo, one had to visualize the scene as it would appear in the final print. This would be the only way you could portray not only the scene, but the feeling of that place accurately to the viewer.
The above photo, The Tetons and the Snake River, was one of 115 images recorded on the Voyager Golden Record aboard the Voyager spacecraft, a collection of images selected to convey information about humans and the earth in general. You can view his gallery and web page here. There is also a Ansel Adams Gallery blog on that site that is quite interesting.
Ansel Adams (1902-1984) is a very well known American photographer and environmentalist. He developed the zone system to determine the proper exposure and adjust for contrast in the final print. He also founded the Group f/64 (with other photographers) which created the Museum of Modern Art's department of Photography. He was most famous for his incredibly beautiful landscape photographs of Western America.It is not only his skill that inspires me, but his unbelievable patience. Adams used large-format cameras which were difficult not only because of their size and weight but also because of the setup time required to operate them. I honestly don't know how many photographs I would be able to take with such equipment as I would get incredibly frustrated very quickly.
The above photograph is one of his more famous ones, or at least most publicized, but it also happens to be one of my favourites. The contrast and lines within the image, as well as the texture/pattern on the bottom dune is simply breathtaking. It draws you into the image and truly makes you feel like you have been to this place and would know what it was like there. Adams rarely had wildlife in his landscapes. Instead he relied not on technique or subject but vision - the vision of the photograph. He was a believer that to create a great photo, one had to visualize the scene as it would appear in the final print. This would be the only way you could portray not only the scene, but the feeling of that place accurately to the viewer.The above photo, The Tetons and the Snake River, was one of 115 images recorded on the Voyager Golden Record aboard the Voyager spacecraft, a collection of images selected to convey information about humans and the earth in general. You can view his gallery and web page here. There is also a Ansel Adams Gallery blog on that site that is quite interesting. 
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