I just got back from the Lake County Discovery Museum in Wauconda, Illinois where they were hosting an exhibit of Ansel Adams original prints. I have to say, I have been familiar with Adams' work since I took photography in high school, but I never really got much information about his innovations and techniques that he used to produce some of the most incredible photographic images ever made. The exhibit had a good deal more prints than I had expected being a small museum in Wauconda, and each one was very impressive. I have never seen an Ansel Adams print that was reproduced so well (these were actually the work of Adams himself), the ones I have seen are usually grainy or faded and do not show what I learned to be one of Adams' signature features of his prints: sharpness and depth of field.
As I read the information next to the prints, I learned that Adams used an extremely deep depth of field to capture as much of the detail of the landscapes he photographed. After reading this, I made sure to pay attention to the depth of field used in the prints and it was abundantly clear that the aperture was about as small as he could get it. The image was razor sharp from the pebbles in the foreground to the jagged mountains in the background and everything in between. He seemed to want to capture every detail he possibly could in his photographs. It was really interesting to go back and look at the photographs a little closer and see all the little grains of gravel and the textures of the snowdrifts and sand dunes. The pictures I grabbed above from the internet just don't do justice to the sharpness of the prints I saw in person.
Another interesting piece of information I picked up from reading along as I checked out the prints was that Adams' original plan was to be a musician. He wanted, if I recall correctly, to be a pianist, and never lost his interest in music as an art form even as he became a world renowned photographer. I read quotes from him describing how he would "hear" things in the images he captured. I'm not sure if it was the power of suggestion, but his images did seem to have some sort of aural spirit to them. I can't say I could hear music as I looked at them but they looked like music. The landscapes seemed to flow along, or stand rigidly still as a melody or accent moves and stops in a song. Dave told me not to apologize for getting too introspective when I write, so I won't (but it still feels a little funny). The images were truly inspiring and I will admit, I got some serious goose bumps as I looked at the staggering beauty of the places Adams photographed. He seemed to be able to capture them at their most wonderful, intense, and sometimes peaceful moments. I read that a lot of the shots were taken at sunrise or just after and that he would often wait for the shadow line to cut across the frame at just the right spot to get his contrast just right.
I haven't been seriously moved by an art exhibit in a long time, not sure if I ever have actually, but I was today. The last day to see the show is tomorrow, so you'll probably have missed it when you read this, but if you ever do get the chance to see these photographs, or better, the places that were Adams' subject matter, do not pass it up.
