Ansel Adams had a distinct style that truly defined photography as an art, rather than just nice photographs. However, some chose to criticize him rather than call him in artist. As Cartier Bresson wrote in 1952, Landscape in itself was not considered worthy as a subject for photography, but now in this crisis with the world maybe going to pieces-to photograph a landscape! Adams was also criticized for the lack of humanity, or any other kind of life for that matter, in his published photographs, no animals, humans, camp-fire smoke, just nature in all its beauty. This shows how ignorant people really can be. The fact that he only photographs nature just makes his work entirely better and people fail to recognize this.
In actuality, its this style of landscape that differs him so greatly from others. Adams himself has admitted that in his photographs there are always two people, the photographer and the viewer. He can only determine how he the photographer will react to the pictures and not how the viewer will feel. In addition, some will say Adams copied the styles of Carleton Watkins and Timothy H. O Sullivan who began there careers 50-60 years before Adams. They also featured Yosemite as there primary setting for most of there works.
(Clark, 3).
Adams said He had little knowledge of there existence at the beginning of his career. I feel it was not possible for Watkins and O Sullivan to have created anything close to that of Ansel Adams. Thus, due to the fact that Adams used technology 50-60 years newer then that of Watkins and O Sullivan. Ansel Adams used technology that was never really found to exists. This is because his images were unexplainable.
The Essay on Ansel Adams life and two analysis of his photographs
Ansel Adams was born February 20, 1902, in San Francisco, California. Ansel took an interest in music at an early age. He taught himself how to play the piano and enjoyed the surroundings of nature. In 1916, he and his parents went on a trip to Yosemite National Park where he received his first camera, the Kodak Box Brownie. His first photographs recorded their vacation. Ansel fell in love with ...
They were to detailed and had perfect lighting. His black and white pictures, seeming so old, yet so advanced in even today s world. Adams was not just interested in taking the photographs but to educate and enlighten all with the knowledge he has gained over the years. He invented the zone system for the pre-visualization of images, considered by him to be the crucial element between artistic interpretation and photographic technology. (Newhall, 27).
Adams said my work has no secrets, it just takes a lot of time and effort..
