Work:
Mention landscape photography to most people and the name Ansel
Adams will spring to mind. He is seen as epitome of pure landscape
photography, the classical beautiful landscape. His images present
a transcendental landscape, a landscape without mans presence.
He work is immensely detailed using small apertures to obtain
maximum depth of field, he was an exponent of straight photography
(movement in the 1930s originating in America included photographers
such as Strand, Weston- really a development from Germany's New
Objectivity movement). Adams was an active conservationist and
his early works sort to gain national park status for areas of
outstanding beauty (e.g. Yosemite), he was extremely successful
in reaching this aim. He uses the contrast of light and shade,
hard and soft textures to crate a sense of awe and wonder. Adams
work presents a desire to hold on to the sentimental, untouched
landscape, a land where time is forgotten. Adams experimented
with new techniques to enable him to see the photograph and ensure
that once captured it would print to the same quality he devised
the zone system (sensitometric principles for controlling materials-zone
0 black with no detail-zone 9 white with no detail, zone 5 mid
grey.) He was also a salient figure in the f 64 movement (with
Cunningham, Brett Weston, William Van Dyke and its leader Edward
Weston)
|
|
Themes
:
Ephemera (the decay of natural forms and weathering)
Ephemera (time and its effect on the landscape, exploring weather
conditions, tides, times of day, months etc.)
Landscape at night
Beauty of nature (using the zone system, advanced printing techniques
etc.)
Seascapes
The City (wide panoramic shots usually from a high vantage point)
Preserving the landscape (sentimental records of classical landscapes)
Architecture (interest in shape, texture and form)
Portraiture
(other photographers, family, locals)
Importance of place (tended to work in specific locations, California,
Sierra Nevada, National Parks- Yosemite, Death Valley, Kings Canyon)
Conservation (to present the beauty of specific places to reach
an international audience, to try to gain parks status to protect
the land)
Interest in light (contrasts e.g. white branches against contrasty
background).
Connections
to other photographers:
The
Classic Landscape:
Timothy O'Sullivan (discovering photographically American landscapes)
E O Beaman (the importance of the great American landscape)
William Henry Jackson
Francis Frith (capturing scenes from a variety of cultures to display
to the world)
Edward Weston (the form and beauty of the
landscape)
Minor White (the magical landscape, an interest
in shape and form)
Carleton Watkins (early photographic images of vast American vistas)
Fay Godwin (the beauty of the British landscape)
John Blakemore (landscape as an intensely
personal space, importance of specific places)
|
