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[OM] Film photography of the greater kind

Subject: [OM] Film photography of the greater kind
From: "Brian Swale" <bj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 20:06:44 +1300
Hi all,

I finally made it to the Ansel Adams exhibition of ?75 images.

Turns out this set is owned by a daughter of Ansel's. Every print was signed 
in copperplate script by Ansel on the lower right with a very sharp lead pencil.

Most of them are amazingly sharp with a wealth of detail close up, but I 
thought the one with the central 3 - 5 aspens in the morning light with a dark 
grove behind was blunt. The printed version is better in my opinion. 
"Moonrise over Hernandez" is amazing. That is a huge landscape, and this 
fact is illustrated by the top of what seems to be a substantial house peeping 
over the trees quite some way behind the graves.

The prints are black and white, black, grey and white, or black and grey !!.

No colour.   I think they are all silver gelatin(e) prints.

OK, he was using the Zone System, but it seemed to me that he used it too 
much to make a point and sometimes the overall impact of the image 
suffered in consequence. For example, the shot of Mt McKinley with a lake 
in the foreground and a huge slice of black forest right across the middle, 
would be much better if the black of the forest were not so black. And there 
are others. One of my top favourites from the books, the deposit of ice at the  
foot of a cliff beside a lake, disappointed me; the ice seemed muddy and 
lacked luminosity. Maybe that is how it was.  The print of the church at Taos 
was good to see in the flesh. What amazing architecture !!

Overall, I was very glad I went. I might even go back again for $8.50. I beat 
the Sunday rush; when I arrived the place was nearly deserted; by the time I 
came to go out there I was surprised to see a very large procession of people 
following me. Must have been the smell or something.

The prints can be seen in the book "Classic images" of which there is an 
abundant supply second-hand. Soon to be one less. There are two flavours; 
one containing the images of the exhibitions, and one slightly different, 
apparently.

Brian 

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