Hi, I may have mentioned already that I am reading the newly-published biography of HCB. While reading it I have also been looking at the book "The Man, the Image & the World" as a reference for his photos.
During the recent discussion about snapshots I also checked the book "Examples - the Making of 40 Photographs" by Ansel Adams. Strange is it may seem, they both photographed Saint Francis Church in Taos from almost exactly the same spot, at a very similar time of day, with roughly the same angle of view. It's very interesting to compare the different treatments: http://tinyurl.com/b8lxq Hansel http://tinyurl.com/9dafj Gretel Of course, it is easier if you have decent (book) prints in front of you. Adams was there first, in 1929. HCB photographed it in 1947, I think. I'm sure HCB was well aware of the Adams photo. My guess is that he had it in mind when he photographed it himself. Perhaps he was thinking of the famous question "Gee, Ansel. Aren't there any people in New Mexico?" (was it W E Smith who asked that?). I think the comparison may be an interesting way to separate the sheep from the goats, photographically. I don't know which is which, by the way. I prefer the HCB version, as you might expect, although I don't think it's a great photo. It is doom-laden and heavy. You can feel the weight and the scale of the building; it's massive like a pyramid. I don't get that from the Adams photo. Instead, next to the HCB, it feels rather trivial and lightweight - almost an academic exercise in tonality and printing rather than an attempt to show something about the building. It will be interesting to hear what others think about this unusual comparison. Especially the people who've been there. -- Cheers, Bob
