I have no idea whether Tom's comment was tongue-in-cheek or not, but it goes to the heart of what I found fascinating about Ansel's comment - the ability to be a super-critical curator of our own photographic work. Ansel Adams produced more negatives than even he could keep up with, in terms of getting prints that both interested him and were up to his high standards.
In our digital age, our ability to produce images (in big numbers) probably far exceeds the time that most of us have to get the most out of them via post-processing. So what do we do? Perhaps we show the ones that appeal to us sans-post-processing (or at least a minimal amount). I wonder how many of us will/would do with digital post-processing what Ansel did with this image: continue to work to better it for years after the image was created ? Like Ansel's mastery over the darkroom processes and materials, we will no doubt grow in our mastery of the post-processing tools and techniques given time. As we struggle to keep up with the backlog of images we recently created, how many of us will go back and REwork a favorite digital image created years in the past, to get the most out of it? Much of this is a moot point, since so many of us produce work only for screen: Flickr, etc. Translating our work to actual prints is something that fewer people do (myself included). There is also something to be said for the Opposite of hyper-critical curation: Sharing ones work that is not, even perhaps by our own standards, top notch. (Particularly if one is seeking critique in an effort to grow, rather than just receiving the kudos that we know we so richly deserve.) :) Darren Addy Kearney, Nebraska On 2/20/12, Jack Davis <[email protected]> wrote: > I've actually never been able to sincerely appreciate this image. > The foreground head stones give it but a minor bit of redemption. > > Jack > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Darren Addy <[email protected]> > To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <[email protected]> > Cc: > Sent: Monday, February 20, 2012 1:25 PM > Subject: Re: For Ansel Adams birthday: All about Moonrisr Over Hernandez > > I recently picked up a couple of used books on Ansel Adams ("The > Portfolios of Ansel Adams" and "Ansel Adams, Letters and Images > 1916-1984") and I find a couple of things interesting regarding > "Moonrise" (which I'll call it for short). > > 1) Although the image was taken in late 1941 and clearly exhibited in > a museum in 1942, no one seems to mention what museum or exhibit it > was in (or the dates). At least that I have found. > > 2) Ansel makes a print of "Moonrise" and gives it as a gift to the > Newhalls at the holidays, 1948. In a letter to them in Jan. 1, 1949 > Ansel says this: > "Do you like the Moonrise print? I think that for the first time I got > some feeling of tonal space. Previous prints have been too bleak and > cold." > > While many people call it not only Ansel's finest, but perhaps the > finest photograph ever made, I don't think it would make the Top Ten > of those that I would choose, if I could pick one Ansel Adams print > for myself. Of course, I've never seen it Live and In Person. > > Darren Addy > Kearney, Nebraska > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
