Ansel Adams
I actually look forward to rainy days on weekends because it means we don't have to paint the house. Yesterday avo and avo came up to help us paint the house. It was decent weather and we painted pretty much the entire front of the house with the first coat of primer. When we woke up this morning, we were hoping to get a final coat of paint one the house but it was drizzingly rain.
So for perhaps the first time ever living in the boston area, we decided to do a tourist activity. We took the kids to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It was the first time we have been there. The kids enjoyed the first hour but then started to drag a bit. They especially liked the mummies, the artifacts from the ancient Egyptian times and the classic artists.
We also checked out a private collection of Ansel Adams photographs. There had to have been about 100 photos from him. My two favoriate shots were the Aspen (the birch trees) and Moon rising.
The most interesting outcome of the day was how my opinion of modern day photographers was slightly changed after seeing and learning about Ansel Adams photography. I always thought that a true photographer would take a picture unaltered and exhibit it in its unmodified state. Many photographers today utilize Photoshop and other photographic software products to manipulate their photos rather than letting their photographs speak for themselves.
There were some quotes from Ansel Adams saying that he felt his photograph negatives were a musical score and the prints the actual performance of the score. He used a variety of filters during the photographic process and special photo developing techniques to further manipulate the final result of the photograph. This even included the type of paper he used. If someone as well known and capable as Ansel Adams felt this not only acceptable but an important component of delivering the final product, I guess I can't hate Photoshop users too much.
Ansel was pretty consistent in his photography themes. Black and white, lots of natural landscapes of famous US Natiional Parks. An occassional abstract photo (he referred to them as extract) of things you would find in nature when the weather didn't permit him to shoot expansive landscapes. Initially he meeked out a meager living however got to see some of the most beautiful parts of nature in the United States. As he got more famous his negatives from earlier pictures became a way to make his living. When he announced that he was no longer going to print earlier photos it just caused a greater demand from his photographs. Non-commercial professional photographers are another type of artist that I have a great respect for. Making a living from taking and selling photographs directly to people is something that requires alot of talent and very hard work to achieve. I admire folks that can do what they enjoy most in life and in some cases even earn a healthy lively hood from it. I have a difficult time even identifying some anyone that I know that falls into that category. Do you? This shows you how rare it is.
After writing this I realized that I do know of 2 people, both of them Susan's cousins on the west coast. One is in a band and the other is working with the performing arts!
So for perhaps the first time ever living in the boston area, we decided to do a tourist activity. We took the kids to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It was the first time we have been there. The kids enjoyed the first hour but then started to drag a bit. They especially liked the mummies, the artifacts from the ancient Egyptian times and the classic artists.
We also checked out a private collection of Ansel Adams photographs. There had to have been about 100 photos from him. My two favoriate shots were the Aspen (the birch trees) and Moon rising.
The most interesting outcome of the day was how my opinion of modern day photographers was slightly changed after seeing and learning about Ansel Adams photography. I always thought that a true photographer would take a picture unaltered and exhibit it in its unmodified state. Many photographers today utilize Photoshop and other photographic software products to manipulate their photos rather than letting their photographs speak for themselves.
There were some quotes from Ansel Adams saying that he felt his photograph negatives were a musical score and the prints the actual performance of the score. He used a variety of filters during the photographic process and special photo developing techniques to further manipulate the final result of the photograph. This even included the type of paper he used. If someone as well known and capable as Ansel Adams felt this not only acceptable but an important component of delivering the final product, I guess I can't hate Photoshop users too much.
Ansel was pretty consistent in his photography themes. Black and white, lots of natural landscapes of famous US Natiional Parks. An occassional abstract photo (he referred to them as extract) of things you would find in nature when the weather didn't permit him to shoot expansive landscapes. Initially he meeked out a meager living however got to see some of the most beautiful parts of nature in the United States. As he got more famous his negatives from earlier pictures became a way to make his living. When he announced that he was no longer going to print earlier photos it just caused a greater demand from his photographs. Non-commercial professional photographers are another type of artist that I have a great respect for. Making a living from taking and selling photographs directly to people is something that requires alot of talent and very hard work to achieve. I admire folks that can do what they enjoy most in life and in some cases even earn a healthy lively hood from it. I have a difficult time even identifying some anyone that I know that falls into that category. Do you? This shows you how rare it is.
After writing this I realized that I do know of 2 people, both of them Susan's cousins on the west coast. One is in a band and the other is working with the performing arts!
posted by Carlos at 8:26 PM
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