The novel on which "Blade Runner" is based is "Do Androids Dream of Electric
Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick. The "Blade Runner" title is the title of a William
Burroughs novel. Burroughs -- the heir to the Burroughs calculator fortune --
was a paedeast-drug addict who made Cheech and Chong look like Doris Day and
Rock Hudson.
There's been some overreaction to the original comments about AA manipulating
his prints. I have no objection to his having manipulated them. If photography
is truly "art," then any form of manipulation that helps the artist achieve
their vision is acceptable. There's also the commercial factor -- a manipulated
print is more difficult to duplicate than a straight print. (When Edward
Weston's sons reprinted their father's negatives, they had one hell of time
trying to figure out exactly how he'd burned, dodged, and bleached them.)
If there's a "problem," it's that Adams -- probably unintentionally -- played
on people's perceptions of large-format photography -- with its high
resolution, invisible grain, and wide/subtle tonal scale -- as a kind of
photographic "absolute truth." In theory, the Zone System provided a direct
connection with this truth by eliminating any need to manipulate the print
(beyond the scientifically rational control of exposure and development). Adams
therefore became the high prophet of the "truth" of the connection between
nature and photography.
Adams was also one of the earliest fans of Land photography, which allows only
a slight adjustment of contrast by varying the development time. Some of his
finest photos were taken with 50-series sheet film. (Some of these were made
with the permanent-negative material, but I've always assumed the book
reproductions are from the unique original.)
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