Hi Charles:
> I once had a short discussion with another photographer about Ansel Adams.
> His lone comment " these would be good pictures if only they had some color
> in them"
> Another way of seeing!
How about another way of being ignorant? (Not you, Charlie). The bulk of
Ansel's work was done either before color, or before large format color, or
when color emulsions were quite poor relative to black and white! There is a
published book on Ansel's color work (e.g. Hawaii shots), so the
photographer's comment is akin to Interior Secretary Watt's comment
[paraphrased] that Ansel's picture are dead because there are no people in
them. If a viewer fails to consider the time period in which a photo was
taken, they will fail to grasp much of the technical merit of the image. I've
always taught a short history of photographic equipment and processes in my
beginning classes so that students will have this knowledge to apply to
appreciating the craft (as well as the art) of photography.
FWIW, color processes during Ansel's active shooting period lacked the kind of
controls possible in the B&W medium. It wasn't until the early 1970's that
technical practitioners of the Zone System, like John Dowdell and Richard
Zakia started experimenting with contrast controls in color emulsions, through
the use of pre-flashing, low contrast slide duplicating film, and high
contrast photomicrography films. [I personally had better luck printing on
Cibachrome and applying contrast control via substitution of the developer
with Dr. Beer's variable contrast formula]
There will always be scenes much more stunning in B&W than color. For anyone
who hasn't tried B&W in awhile, use it on subjects that have lots of texture,
or dramatic atmospherics, or fine detail, or a masculine theme. Then look at
a color shot of the same. You may like the B&W better. At a given film
speed, it'll certainly be sharper.
Gary Reese
Las Vegas, NV
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