Customer Reviews

America's Wilderness: The Photographs of Ansel Adams

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

America's Wilderness is a nice book with huge size. However, seen as a novice photographer who has studied hundreds of photo books, this book do not contain the best photos of Ansel Adams large production. The best of Ansel Adams photos can be find in the books where photos are selected by Ansel Adams himself. The books representing Ansel Adams best master pieces are for example Yosemite, Classic Images, Examples: The Making of 40 photograps and The American Wilderness (not same book as this one). However this book is a beaty, too.

Many of Ansel Adams' exquisite photographs call out for large reproductions, and this book displays them in a decent size format. But what a waste. The reproductions are nearly all flat and murky, with little detail in the shadow. If I had read far enough down into the customer reviews, I would have been warned; but the reviews at the top of the stack were quite favorable. Which leads me to wonder: Are we looking at the same book? I advise readers to purchase Adams books published by Little, Brown, and Company (aka "Bulfinch"). Even at smaller sizes their books display much more detail and clarity than does this disappointing edition.

While some photos are reasonable, most are seriously flawed. Some are flat, some are excessively contrasty, others seem murky and indistinct. Some of the photos need cleaning to remove dust spots, etc. Even the title is wrong , as the book includes photos of dams and sheep. There are many other excellent books, which have been prepared from Adams prints and produced with much more care. Buy one of those.

Horrible printing of Adams' most obscure photos. Fuzzy images with none of the range of tones normally produced by his incomparable application of the "zone technique." The poor images even make it impossible to appreciate the words of John Muir.

Poor reproduction quality. Actually no quality. Not approved by the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust.

Terrible printing quality of photos that are obscure because they're not that good. Whether the lack of sharpness in these is down to the paper, the printer, or the photographer (yes, even Ansel took crap at times, and people seem determined to publish everything he ever did, however bad!), I don't know, but the lack of sharpness and the awful shadow detail make this book an absolute waste of time. Maybe it will impress a non-photographer (simply so they can boast having a book of Adams's shots) - but a photographer is wasting their money.

This book is not worth the paper! The price of the book is low (too low); the photos are not comparable with other Ansel Adams books or calendars (burned out highlights, fluffy dark zones etc.) Every postcard you can buy for less than 1$ has better quality.
Please don't mix it up with the hardcover version which is >100$.

Poor reproduction quality. Actually no quality. As educational book, to study composition or something like that, perhaps the book serves.

Breathtaking photos. Especially in light of the rudimentary equipment available at the time they were taken. Proves that Ansel Adams is still unsurpassed in American photography. Captures the majesty and beauty of the vanishing American wilderness. Members of Congress should view this work before voting to open refuge or wild lands to drilling and logging.

If you're a fan of Ansel Adams, you will absolutely love this book. It's 127 pages of breathtaking photography with poetic writings by John Muir. The images fill the entire page while subtle text accompanies the photographs. "I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out until sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in." These passages work hand in hand with the photographs giving a meditative quality about them. For a split moment you actually feel like you are physically standing in that surrounding and experiencing the beauty of nature. Adams and Muir work as a unit to document this beautiful phenomenon we call nature and present it to us in this book called America's Wilderness.
This book allows you to appreciate the beauty of America from the vast mountaintops to the endless plains to the ever-changing cloud formation. He captures the essence of Mother Nature and all her minute details. This book would be far from complete if it were not for the eloquent writings of John Muir. Though Muir has long passed away, his writing, fortunately, will never depart.