[LargeFormat] Ansel Adams (was 250mm Wide Field Ektar)

Sun May 5 09:56:14 2002

At 10:09 pm -0700 4/5/02, Charles Thorsten wrote:
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Clive Warren"
>
>>  Charlie,
>>
>>  Thanks for that - a video just arrived in the post from a kind person
>>  who taped the recent Ansel Adams documentary shown in the US on PBS.
>>  I was going to hit the hay, but may well stay up for a bit and watch
>>  it - maybe the lens will be shown in action....
>>
>
>If you watch his original documentary from 1980, the opening
>scene shows him using it on an 8x10 from Washburn Point in
>Yosemite.  There's even a close-up of the shutter being snapped.
>I missed the new PBS documentary a couple weeks ago and
>I've been dying to see it!  I didn't think to record it.  I'm hoping
>they'll show it again or someone will let me borrow their copy.
>
>Good luck,
>Charlie

Charlie,

I watched the first half hour of the PBS documentary last night and 
it is excellent so far. It is a great insight into the man and how 
his first visit to Yosemite provided the driving force in his life to 
capture his vision of the place and other wilderness areas, initially 
with a Box Brownie given to him by his doting father. There are many 
shots showing Adams using what looks like an early Speed Graphic, 
interestingly always with the sports finder erected - this must have 
been how he did his initial framing!

The documentary is backed by some great research through letters to 
the woman he was later to marry. According to John Szarkowski who is 
curator of the current Centennial Exhibition, Adams was known as a 
man who did not wax lyrically about his photographs - leaving it to 
others to interpret his work. This is surprising in some ways given 
the wonderful description of Yosemite in a letter to his then 
girlfriend that really captured the beauty, splendour and awesome 
majesty of the place.

Weston was mentioned as was the early pictorialist approach of both 
Edward and Ansel who had been influenced by Stieglitz. In the PBS 
documentary there was a wonderful section where Ansel visited New 
York to show Stieglitz his portfolio. Apparently Stieglitz looked 
through the work, twice, without making a comment. Finally he said 
that they were the best prints he had ever seen. Adams finally had 
his affirmation that he was a really great photographer in a time 
when his sharply focused approach with clarity of detail went totally 
against the contemporary perceived artistic value of photographs.

Watching the documentary with some excellent time lapse photography 
of Yosemite in addition to Ansel's work, I found myself wishing to be 
back in the magnificent scenery of the South West USA - the idea of 
living in that part of the world has grown very strong again. Maybe 
some day......

I would dearly like to also get hold of a copy of the 1980 Adams 
documentary - perhaps someone on the list has a copy?

I guess most on the list know about the touring Adams Centennial 
Exhibition that has been organised by the San Francisco Museum of 
Modern Art. Well it comes over to the UK to the Hayward Gallery later 
this year. I'll be there, and maybe this is a good opportunity for 
all the UK members of f32 and the list to get together!

Ansel Adams at 100
Dates : 11 Jul 2002 - 22 Sep 2002
Venue : Hayward Gallery
Address : Belvedere Road London SE1 8XZ
Public Transport : Tube/Rail: Waterloo; Tube: Embankment.
Telephone : (020) 7960 4203
Web : www.haywardgallery.org.uk
Prices: Prices to be announced.
Opening Times : Monday Open, 1000-1800.
Box Office : Hayward Gallery
Belvedere Road
London
SE1 8XZ
Tel : (020) 7960 4203
Credit Card booking available contact
(020) 7960 4242

All of the other dates and locations for the travelling Centennial 
Exhibition exhibition are listed at:

http://www.anseladams.com/taag/webpage.cfm?WebPage_ID=234&DID=8

The exhibition is currently at the Art institute of Chicago until 
June 2, 2002. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the PBS 
documentary this evening.

Cheers,
        Clive