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Is this why my cameras collect dust?





Kenneth Brower writes about Ansel Adams at 100. I've never been a huge fan of Adams, preferring pictures with more people than just the photographer in them. And, voila, Brower sums it up as:



His critics have conceded Adams his pre-eminence in the history of modern photography, his eloquent composition, his technical mastery of printmaking, his ingenious "zone system," and his vast influence as a teacher. But the consensus seems to be that Adams did all these things too well. Today in photography we are seeing a retreat from Adams-style classicism, a glorification of images that look accidental. Photographers with whom I work, men and women who spent years mastering their trade, are dismayed by this development. Morning is no longer the photographer's hour. The young editor or curator complains about the prettiness of low-angle light. Couldn't the photographer shoot more at noon, when the light flattens everything out? Where is the irony? (By which the postmodernist means a kind of empty hipness.) Does everything have to be so sharply in focus? So composed? Couldn't we blur things more, to suggest movement? The photographer hurries home to search the wastebasket for rejects.
I used to work for the man who was best man at Adams's wedding. Needless to say, having a negative view of Ansel was dangerous. My father was a huge fan, but then my father grew up in the Colorado Rockies. Those stark black and white pictures were like picture post cards from home.



When I learned the Zone System, and actually began to understand it, my darkroom work improved immeasureably. I'd hike all around the Bay Area (all right, drive or ride), camera bag at hand, Nikons at the ready, and blast away a few rolls of Ilford HP-5 pull-processed to ASA 200. (See, I can still sling some of the slang around!) Film back to the darkroom, process, dry, print, play, print some more. Great fun, truly.



But the lure of Adams eluded me. Reading Browers's article makes me think that I never saw Adams the right way. The technical virtuoso of the view camera, his prints shine best when viewed large, and you'll not find a book large enough to give the same effect.



If I still had access to a darkroom, I'd dust off the cameras. Then again, I could always see if Fuji has improved Fujichrome Professional 50 (exposed at ASA 80, FYI; slide film is gorgeous is slightly under exposed). It's hard for a decent lab to screw up your slides, other than through physical destruction.

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