Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/11/23

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Subject: RE: [Leica] adams the myth - Yeth?
From: Eric Welch <ewelch@neteze.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 19:04:26 -0800

At 12:23 PM 11/23/1999 -0500, you wrote:
>I'm not sure who Eric is referring to me or John, but AA contact printed
>every (or close to) negative for proofing. The fact he was making a living,
>BTW, what was his living? making prints, taking exposures, giving lectures,
>doing workshops. I don't know for sure, but he probably made a definite

He was a commercial photographer. He worked for all sorts of customers. And 
it took a massive amount of him time, feeding and clothing his family, and 
supporting his art. His popularity as an art photographer only started 
paying off in the 70s. Have you read Mary Street Alinder's biography on 
Ansel? She knows more about him than anyone else. John Sexton (whom I know 
via email) included.

>exposed less film and printed more. So theoretically he had more time to
>print. What did he print? the popular images that provided him a living. Of
>the 40k negatives that Eric says he made, how many was he printing over a
>years time? figure 40-50 images in a days work (these are numbers gleaned

Yes, prints that have been seen. Alinder's book talked about how many 
photos he WANTED to print, but he just never got to because he died way too 
soon after he stopped printing the famous photos for sale. It took five or 
more years to catch up with the orders that came in after he announced he 
was calling it quits (taking orders).

>that were great. great to him? yes. because it was his vision that made them
>great. Did he print all that he wanted to of his great prints from negatives
>that are unknown? dunno. I hope so.

Nope, not even close. There are probably hundreds of photos that he wanted 
to print he never got to, according to Alinder.

Eric Welch
Carlsbad, CA

http://www.neteze.com/ewelch

Logic: The art of being wrong with confidence...