Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/03/07

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Subject: [Leica] RE: Ansel Adams
From: mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)
Date: Mon Mar 7 16:01:53 2005

On 3/7/05 1:23 PM, "brad daly" <brad@bradbrad.com> typed:

> ansel adams is *so* ubiquitous as a calendar photographer that it's
> really hard to look at his pictures as anything but mass produced art.
> he is certainly an immensely important figure in photography but is
> almost too big to deal with.  i don't think it's an impossibility:
> shakespeare, for instance, is arguably way, way, way more important in
> literature but *is* definitely dealt with very seriously, in spite of
> all the pop shakespeare crap we have to contend with.
> 
> another sort of analogy might be the mona lisa.  it's a quite good
> renaissance painting but is almost impossible to deal with because it's
> the MONA LISA.  it's a cultural sign that is SO huge, so much more than
> really any other painting.
> 
> --brad
> 
> 
It may be impossible to deal with high works of art which have become
cultural icons in an out of context causal way.
But there is nothing stopping from studying Art, Literature and fine art
photography which certainly include these and many more icons in a serious
way.
Then we see them in context. And they can be recognized for something
resembling their true worth.
Just became these things are on postage stamps doesn't mean there is a law
which says we cant study them seriously.
And they are not in any real way devalued by such recognition.
Only by those who refuse to ever get into things in a serious way.
And there's an anti-intellectualism in that which is not a minor force in at
least American society.

And the internet sure makes things easier to check things out in more than
an off handed way. One could pick up quite a few juicy tidbits about just
how Ansel Adams photographed the Mona Lisa in a very few minutes. I think it
was F16 at an 8th of a second with a yellow green filter with a water bath.
Did you know he did that without a model release and she sued him later?
And that guy who painted the moonscape backdrop... He wanted some extra cash
too!

Just Google it!


Mark Rabiner
Photography
Portland Oregon
http://rabinergroup.com/





In reply to: Message from brad at bradbrad.com (brad daly) ([Leica] RE: Ansel Adams)