My father sent me another video of Ansel Adams.
As I watched it I realized that Europeans don't hold the West Coast photographers in very high regard. The possible exception being Edward Weston, but even he is not as celebrated as, say, New York street photographers nor Weston's lover, Tina Modatti.
I grew up knowing about and following the life and works of Ansel Adams. I went to every show I could, including a fabulous exhibition in LA when I worked in a black and white print lab on Sunset blvd (it was the lab for Samy's Cameras, also on Sunset). He was a central figure in my photographic awareness.
With time I "moved on" to learning about and appreciating other photographer's works. People who know me know that I have a great appreciation for what William Mortensen did for photography. If you don't already understand what I'm saying, check out Mortensen's "Camera Craft" series of guides on model posing, negative and print processes and camera technique.
Coming back to Ansel Adams for a moment, I had an opportunity to buy one of his "Moonrise" prints from his gallery in Yosemite Valley. I had the $800 in my pocket. Stupid me, I went and bought a used Leica M3 with a 50mm f/1.5 Summarit lens, instead. I rue the day I made that decision the way I did.
It is fascinating to watch the following video and to see a young Mr. Sexton working as Ansel's assistant. Sexton was in Portland once on a lecture and book tour and I got to meet him and learn a bit about his approach to seeing things.
Anyway. Enough of that. Here is the video.
2 comments:
Personally I take a lot of notice of the West Coast photographers and the f64 Group. Just as a matter of interest its Tina Modotti, not Mondatti and she was a great photographer in her own right. Yours faithfully, S.Martarse
I think you're the first person I've encountered over here who knows of that group. And thank you for the correction on the spelling. How'd the "n" slip in there? :-)
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