Customer Reviews

Ansel Adams in Color

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

 

 

"I can truthfully say I can remember only two or three color photographs that are worth remembering." -- Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams long felt that color photography was not art and not consistent with his vision of his own photography. What we have in this volume are almost totally unpublished and unexhibited images from his transparencies that he chose not to publish or exhibit. In other words, these are mostly his rejects. So, this is like pawing through his working files of sketches rather than his finished work, in an unauthorized way. How does that make you feel? Hmmm.

For me, the benefit of this volume was to better understand the brilliance of how his processing of black and white images played into the success of his best work. This book contains 50 images that clearly do not have the full Ansel Adams feel and impact.

The strength of this volume is the plenitude of material on what Adams had to say about color photography in general and his own. These points are nicely characterized in the essay by James L. Enyeart. One of the key problems for Adams was that he could "see" the final black and white image he wanted to create in his mind before taking a photograph, but could not "see" the color image in advance. He was not one to take hundreds of exposures hoping to have one or two turn out to be interesting. The art of photography for him was always a deliberate one, not an accidental process. While many color photographers used Polaroid stills as tests in this way, Adams did not want to do so.

Another problem was that early color processing did not allow him the control over the final image that black and white processing did.

Perhaps the ultimate problem was that "the most difficult subject for color photography was landscape." "The image -- to the photographer -- is a very different experience from what the viewer might receive from it." Think of a photograph then, as "a simulation of a perception of the world around us . . . ." A color photograph tended to destroy Adams' preference for understatement, and desire to show subtle connections. In fact, you will often see poor photography literally shouting with color that overwhelms the senses to no purpose.

Harry M. Callahan took on the thankless task of picking out some images to put in the book. He did this solely on aesthetic grounds, reflecting his own taste. While I do not know what he did not select, I was interested to see that a few works seemed to carry off Adams' desire for subtlety in new ways by showing additional detail in the shadows that are missing in his parallel black and white images. These works include:

Yosemite Falls, c. 1953

Green Hills, c. 1945

Mount McKinley, Grass, 1948

Pool, 1947

El Capitan, Texas, 1947

Waimea Canyon, 1948

Clearing Storm, Yosemite, c. 1950

Detail of Mammoth Pool, Yellowstone, 1946

Mono Lake, 1947

Bad Water and Telescope Pool, Death Valley, c. 1947

The Grand Canyon, 1947

If you want to see Ansel Adams' best work, skip this book. If you want to understand why his black and white work is so great, take a look at this book.

Whether you decide to look or not, I have a challenge for you. Do you have anything in your files that is not intended for the public to see? Take a lesson from the experience of this book and destroy that material today.

Edit down to the best!

Late in his life, Adams' staff unearthed color transparencies and color negatives that were stored in his negative vault. With Adams' permission, the staff had a few prints made with the idea of exhibiting or publishing them. After seeing the first prints, Adams told them to kill the project. "I hate this color," he told them. "My reaction is like fingernails on a chalkboard. I can't stand it! Please stop." [Quoted in Mary Alinder's bio of Adams, pp. 382-383.]

I can guess at the motives of the people behind this book (who knew Adams, and had to have known of his opinion regarding this aspect of his own work), and they should be ashamed of themselves.

This book uses photographs by one of the century's greatest artists. Not just photographers. But the sad part about it is, and this was made perfectly clear by him - there is no mistake - he DID NOT want it to be published. Why? According to his nurse/assistant/friend/biographer Mary Street Alinder he did not wish them to be published because the color photographs were not good examples of his vision.

Sophistry will never be able to compensate for the point that he didn't want it published. No amount of money made will justify it. Historical value yes. Ansel's vision on a new level? Hardly.

At best it's a curiosity. Like listening to Beehthoven plink on the piano coming up with another passage. A symphony it ain't. And Ansel, of all people, is the lesser for it if it's ever put forward as art, and not simply as history.

For the aspiring photo-enthusiast or the accomplished professional, through this book, Ansel Adams brings to you a touch of his fine art mastery in color for a change. His visual mastery in Black & White, with the added value of Color. Being a professional photographer who's seen quite a bit of work, both brilliant and otherwise, this book just keeps you loving image after image. A must see for excellent visual input.

As a photographer with over 50 years of experience with cameras, I found the color photos by Ansel Adams interesting and enjoyable to peruse. But, the most important aspect of this book for me were the quoted passages from Ansel's letters and other writings regarding the challenges of making meaningful and art-level color photographs. Ansel envisioned the coming world of color photography and even foresaw the post negative film era that might happen as he wrote many years ago when color slide film was his choice for its stability and vividness. But, when he wrote his book, the color films then available to the photographer did not enable the degree of post-camera manipulation and fine tuning of photographs that we enjoy today with digital photography.

Interesting read - originally found in the public library. Wanted a copy for my collection but still Prefer The Classic Adams "B&W"

This book is all about the text. It is a book on photographic philosophy, and can't be reasonably judged as a book of images by Ansel Adams evangelists like some of the above reviewers. He is dead now, and surely wouldn't mind the fact that some of his pictures have been used to stimulate discussion and thought regarding photography and/or art. He would not have proudly displayed this work based solely on his personal opinions. That doesn't mean it is bad, and it doesn't mean it is exploitive for publishers to show it to us now. It is just an interesting book, and I imagine that it would be even for someone who is not a photographer.

Any decent photographer knows about the work of Ansel Adams. Sure, he is well known for his black and white work, but many of us have wondered about his work in color. This book presents some good photos, but the main thing is the text (and there isn't too much of it, which is good). It includes analysis, but also comments from Ansel himself (articles, interviews, etc.). Definitely worth reading. I was going to just breeze through the pretty pictures, but when I started reading the text, I had to read all of it.

To finally see Adams' work in color, is truly a sight to behold! Ansel Adams has dazzled people with his black & white photographs for years, now the public has a chance to see the same artistry, but in color! Magnificent and wonderful! Two thumbs Ansel Adams and Kodak!! Two thumbs up!

I got a copy of this recently and it is a truly interesting book.

The use of colour displays a profound vision and shows a great

understanding of the necessity for colours to work together in an image,

sometimes harmoniously, sometimes in contrast.

It is truly as great as the B&W work Adams is so well known for?

To be honest no, but he was still working towards a vision of

how to use colour in his work, so it remains a work in progress.

Given another 50 years I have no doubt that Adams would have

colour work every bit as good as his B&W.

You could learn a lot from the images in this book, possibly

all the more because it isn't a really polished work which can

seem a bit inaccesible to us lesser mortals.