crossing Lake Champlain ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone
(embiggenable) • iPhone (copy photo)
(embiggenable) • iPhone (copy photo)
I HAD BEEN CONSIDERING AN ADDENDUM ENTRY, re: my last entry about Admas sucks, but decided not to do so. Then a coupled comments appeared which I felt required a response. So....
Prior to those new comments, my desire for an addendum entry was driven by the fact that I neglected to be clear, in my previous entry, that I was not suggesting that Sir Ansel was a "great" color picture maker. In fact, I have never been a big fan of Adams' B&W work. Although, I have been fortunate enough to have stood in front of a number of Adams original prints-most at the George Eastman Museum-and one would have to be blind not to recognize and appreciate the stunningly beautiful objects, aka: photo prints, he created.
new comment #1: John Sparks wrote that Adams' color pictures "....don't suck, but also don't have the drama/impact of his B&W work. He also wrote that Adams had some color blindness, a notion that rings a bell with me.
my response: Up to point, I would agree with the idea that Adams' color work is less dramatic than his B&W work. However, that is the quality that I like about Adams' color work and a quality / characteristic Adams pursued in his quest to find / develop a "color photography aesthetic"...
Adams believed that "...it was impossible to get a truly 'realistic image' [with color photography]" and, as a result, "a concept of psuedo-reality developed in both professional and amateur work." He also wrote that "The Creator did not go to art school and natural color, while more gentle and subtle, seldom has what we call aesthetic resonance."
Adams' concept of a color photography "psuedo-reality" was based upon the emphasis placed upon, by color picture makers of the era, "smashing, garish color ....a bebop of electric blues, furious reds, and poison greens". He had no desire to venture down that path so it should come as no surprise that he pursued the making of color pictures which evinced a more "realistic"-Adams always placed the word in quotes-representation of a "more gentle and subtle" natural color.
new comment #2: Christine Bogan wrote "It is a question of Taste. Why Not discuss with Mike Johnston your Personal experience and Knowledge?"
my response: The easy answer to that question is to suggest that you read Elephant Tongue and Hypnotized Chickens
I have included a sampling of Adams' color pictures-quick iPhone copy photos-from the book Ansel Adams~In Color. Pictures which I would suggest dispel the idea that his color worked sucked. In fact, as far as I am concerned, if I were required to have an Adams' picture on a wall in my home, I would rip out a page from the color book and frame it rather than display an original Adams B&W picture.
Cuz, as Christine Bogan wrote, "It is a question of Taste."