tribute to Ansel Adams Photo

Photographer’s Note

With this photo I would like to pay tribute to the great photographer Ansel Adams.

Ansel Easton Adams (1902 – 1984) was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West and primarily Yosemite National Park.

He pioneered landscape photography. For his images, he developed the zone system, a way to determine proper exposure and adjust the contrast of the final print. The resulting clarity and depth characterized his photographs. Although his large-format view cameras were difficult to use because of their size, weight, setup time, and film cost, their high resolution ensured sharpness in his images.

Ansel Adams undertook photographic expeditions in America's wild nature. His photos educated his fellow Americans about the beauty of their country and contributed to the creation of the first National Parks.

His lasting legacy includes helping to elevate photography to an art comparable with painting and music, and equally capable of expressing emotion and beauty. As he reminded his students, “It is easy to take a photograph, but it is harder to make a masterpiece in photography than in any other art medium”.

“Ansel Adams,” wrote John Szarkowski, of the N.Y. Museum of Modern Art, “attuned himself more precisely than any photographer before him to a visual understanding of the specific quality of the light that fell on a specific place at a specific moment. For Adams the natural landscape is not a fixed and solid sculpture but an insubstantial image, as transient as the light that continually redefines it. This sensibility to the specificity of light was the motive that forced Adams to develop his legendary photographic technique.”

In workshop are two examples of his nature photography.

I wouldn't dare to compare my photo to Adam's work but it is nice to think that if Ansel Adams had travelled in the European Alps he maybe, just maybe, might have appreciated this view too.

The photo is taken in the descent from the Marjelenhütte to the Aletsch glacier in Switzerland and shows a marshy cotton grass field in the foreground. A colour version was published earlier on this site and is also added as a workshop.

(with extracts from wikipedia)

edge, claudio74, Cretense, carper, Budapestman, ymrk, Vasa, cd70, buscape, adores, gunbud, hardyuno, swiatopelk777 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

sayeed_rahman (2267) 2009-11-03 9:03

Indeed..i had got his biography shipped from the US since its out of print in india..wonder why they have made more like a coffeea table book..Little brown to be precise..

The soft contrast..the sky..yeah..a fitting tribute..

well done Paul..this was refreshing

tc

sayeed

edge (458) 2009-11-03 9:40

Hello Paul, Yes, Ansel Adams was one of a kind. There are still many techniques that he used still in use. I can remember his when he was alive and still conducted workshops etc. He was an avid enviromentalist and Yosemite was his favorite location.

You have done well with the black and white, sometimes it is more picturesque and scenic than color, albeit most of us prefer color. Great Job. Regards Roger

embryss (110) 2009-11-03 10:33

Dag Paul,

Mooi B/W landschap. Zachte grijstinten. De waterlopen die links en rechts uit een hoek van het beeld vertrekken leiden de blik van de kijker automatisch naar het centrum en achtergrond van het beeld. Het witte veenpluis (katoengras) is fotogeniek in dergelijke omgeving. Mooi.
Groetjes,

Marcel

claudio74 (6421) 2009-11-03 21:10

Hello Paul
Very nice picture, i think you posted before a colored version. But the Band W is perfect too and increase the depht of the picture especially with this amazing foreground.
Well done
regards
Claude

danyy (68602) 2009-11-04 0:12

Bonjour Paul,
c'est tout un art de faire passer une photo de paysage qui doit etre follement colorée, en noir et blanc. Bien entendu on y perd le naturel, mais on se prend à devines les couleurs qui manquent et à remplaces ces gris.
Photo bien construite, profonde. Une météo mitigée qui ne t'a pas gêné.
Amicalement.
Daniel.

Cretense (55848) 2009-11-04 3:32

Hi Paul!

Fantastic landscape photography, excellent tribute to a huge landscape photographer, indeed your excellent image, has the qualities and the style of his work! Great composition and framing, excellent perspective, excellent b&w conversion! Congratulations!

Hercules

carper (64638) 2009-11-04 10:17

very nice tribute Paul,
a good composition a nice big format, good balance, fantastic place good photo job here Paul, good evening.
regard jaap

darek1978 (11165) 2009-11-04 11:16

Hi Paul,
Stunning work! This has a lot of drama and really grabs the viewer. The strong contrasted moody B&W gives that extra dreamy atmosphere. Wonderful place and splendid picture. I'm very impressed!
Thanks for sharing,
Darek

Budapestman (41686) 2009-11-05 3:36

Hi Paul,
beautiful tribute, you took a splendid photo of this amazing place with spectacular composition and details, great atmosphere, Tfs! Have a nice day!
George

ciakgiak (10548) 2009-11-05 9:06

Hello Paul,
This is a really great tribute to a great photographer, I think that he might have appreciated your superb work, a splendid b&w landscape.
congratulations and tfs.
Giorgio

ymrk (8639) 2009-11-05 12:57

I've who seen by far most spectecular bw editingly landscape.The flowers had added wonderful move on here.Congratulations my friend,

Yağmur

Vasa (5454) 2009-11-06 1:34

Bonjour Paul,

J'aime bien le rythme du noir et du blanc, la seule expression de ton sujet. J'apprecie ta dedication et suis fier de ton travail et de notre amitie. Meilleures voeux,

Branko

PHILVERC (696) 2009-11-08 3:06

Une très belle composition. La photo noir et blanc demande de se concentrer sur l'essentiel

cd70 (709) 2009-11-11 12:30

Hello Paul,
Toutes mes félicitations pour ce paysage grandiose ! D'une part le B & W est magnifique, la gamme de gris offre des contrastes parfaits. De plus, ce cadrage donne une profondeur impressionnante. C'est très bien ralisé, bravo à toi !
Cyrille

buscape (3617) 2009-11-12 4:48

Hello Paul,
good capture of this fantastic landscape with all the white flowers in the foreground and the big mountains in the background. I like your POV with the water streams leading the eye to the mountains. B&W or colour version ? Well, I do like both versions very much. Good photo job.
Best wishes,
Helmut

adores (15487) 2009-11-14 18:00

Hi Paul!
I must confess that I like this landscape in the colour version, but the conversion to b&w is very good and it's surely a good tribute to such a great photographer!

gunbud (27789) 2009-11-16 20:34

Hi Paul,
Wow! Splendid clarity and sharpness to go with the fantastic depth.
The wild flowers make an outstanding lead-in to the distant snow capped peaks.
The clouds and mist add a bit of mystery to this fine tribute.
Regards, Tom

AKITA (5277) 2009-11-23 15:55

dear Paul,
a beautiful view shot of wonder nature scene,
fore flower field and back wild mountains make superb panorama,
sometimes mono tone picture looks more colorful, like this your shot, maybe colors are really existing on our imaginations.
cool wind from mountains and warm shining from flowers are well combined in this view,
thank you,
Akihisa

hardyuno (2139) 2009-11-24 3:15

Hello Paul,
this is worth for a tribute to Ansel Adam. A very fine structured image with a pretty good POV. My congratulation to it. TFS
Kind regards
Hartmut

swiatopelk777 (8294) 2009-11-24 8:40

Hi Paul!
Amazing shot. Amazing BW art work. Original composition. Fantastic landscape.
Very fine info about Mr Ansel Adams.
Greetings from Warszawa!

testmaniac (12072) 2009-11-25 0:38

Hello Paul, no doubt great B/W landscape! Great place and very good job!

TFS and regards,
Phil

Urs (2770) 2009-11-25 9:23

Hi Paul

It is a very fitting tribute to one of the greatest photographer and it is in black&white., that makes it even more special. Your capture of this Swiss landscape - I'm Swiss but I have never been there - is very nice, giving a lot of preference to the FG. All these fine gray hues and tints, excellent Well done

best regards
urs

Signal-Womb (11685) 2009-11-26 13:47

Yes indeed Paul, this shot has his signature for sure. What a scene and I love your lead lines unto the mountains. Well done.

coco (27790) 2009-11-27 14:59

And hi again, Pau.

Again a nice composition and this time you choice the black and whtie for this shot and really I love it.

Regards.