Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/01/13

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Ansel Adams and digital
From: chs2018 at med.cornell.edu (Chris Saganich)
Date: Tue Jan 13 15:21:26 2009
References: <3607.1231861686@thadbrown.com> <C5926CCB.4833B%mark@rabinergroup.com>

Mark,
It was his attempt to part from the pictorial photography popular in the 
early days.  His intention I believe was to make you feel the landscape as 
much as see it.  While the filtration may not be subtle  the connection 
between your eye and the gravity of a large boulder is and can work with 
proper use of perspective and tonal relationships.  This is most evident I 
think from his work in harsh outdoor light; when I look at some of those 
prints I squint.  It may not look the same as if I were there but my body 
wants to react the same.  Without the body there would be no intelligence 
or perception.  We interact differently with a photograph compared to 
actually being in a place so Adams figured out how to compensate on a 
pretty deep level and passed it all on to us.

Remember the Star Trek episode where the aliens had evolved into "pure 
intelligence" and were depicted as brains in a bell jar?  That's just silly.


At 04:07 PM 1/13/2009, you wrote:
>You put a dark red or green filter on something, deep yellow even and your
>interpretation of the shot is in your minds eye is certainly is not what
>everybody else is seeing when they're standing next to you watching you take
>the photo or what they're probably getting in their Brownies.
>AA's filtration was as often as not not all the subtle.
>He's critised about that; by people who no doubt walk around feeling great
>about how subtle they all are.
>But it fits my tastes perfectly. As in black and white landscapes I tend to
>go for the gusto as well.
>Realistic NOT I think as dramatic effect is possibility as most often the
>intention. A shot that would knock your socks off.
>All I ever asked from a picture...
>Mine or what I'm looking at.
>
>The f64 ethic meant get it all in focus no fuzzy wuzzie pseudo art but it
>didn't not mean having things look realistic.
>Or look like they'd really look in a "straight" black and white shot.
>
>
>Mark William Rabiner
>
>
>
> > From: TCB <tcb@thadbrown.com>
> > Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
> > Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 09:48:06 -0600
> > To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
> > Subject: Re: [Leica] Re: Ansel Adams and digital
> >
> > Indeed. I was just flipping through 'The Negative' again and AA 
> suggests doing
> > a
> > polaroid before exposing a negative, instead of taking two negatives,
> > developing
> > one in the lab, and then developing the second according to the first. 
> > The
> > funny
> > thing is that my D300 has more or less devolved to doing this job. When 
> > I'm
> > trying to be 'serious' and shooting MF I put my D300 on the tripod 
> > first. I
> > like
> > to shoot a lot of low and night things, so exposures can vary pretty 
> wildly.
> > The
> > D300 gives me an LCD and a histogram to read to get an idea of what's 
> > what
> > with
> > shadows and highlights, just like a polaroid.
> >
> > The other funny thing in 'The Negative' that I ran across was the closest
> > thing
> > you'll ever to an AA 'rant.' It was something like, 'I am categorized as 
> > a
> > realistic photographer, but great care and effort is needed to make an 
> image a
> > viewer will perceive as natural' which I took as AA's very gentle way of
> > saying,
> > 'You know, folks, I didn't just happen upon some dogwood blossoms and 
> pull out
> > my
> > point and shoot, that thing too some flamin WORK!'
> >
> > TCB
> >
> > On Tue 13/01/09  8:24 AM , Slobodan Dimitrov s.dimitrov@charter.net sent:
> >> Couldn't agree with you more on this!
> >> The very fact that he was instrumental in the development of PN55 at
> >> Polaroid attests to the possibility.
> >> I mean, who took Polaroid as a serious, and relevant, product at the
> >> time?
> >> sd
> >>
> >> On Jan 12, 2009, at 9:30 PM, TCB wrote:
> >>
> >>> AA had a deep, almost sensual understanding of
> >> all of the  > technology involved in
> >>> making an image. I can't imagine he would be
> >> resistant to any newer  > tech
> >>> available today, though I also can't imagine
> >> he'd be locked into  > any kind of pure
> >>> digital rig.
> >>>
> >>> On Mon 12/01/09 11:05 PM , Nathan Wajsman photo@fr
> >> ozenlight.eu sent:>> I am certain he would. In his autobiography,
> >> written shortly before>> his death in 1984, he comments on the then
> >> revolutionary notion of>> digital photography and makes some very
> >> positive statements about  >> what
> >>>> he imagines will be its possibilities. I
> >> cannot find the exact>> reference at the moment, but it is in
> >> there.>>
> >>>> Nathan
> >>>>
> >>>> Nathan Wajsman
> >>>> Alicante, Spain
> >>>> http://www.frozenlight.euhttp://www.greatpix.euhttp:// >>
> > www.nathanfoto.com>> Books:
> > http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/search?search=wajsman&x=0&am
> >> p;am>> p;y=0PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/pawsBlog:>
> > http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog>>
> >>>>
> >>>> On Jan 13, 2009, at 12:18 AM, Geoff
> >> Hopkinson wrote:>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I believe that if AA was with us today,
> >> he would>> be an avid  > enthusiast for
> >>>>> Photoshop as his darkroom.
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >> _______________________________________________>> Leica Users Group.
> >>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for
> >> more>> information
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >> _______________________________________________> Leica Users Group.
> >>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more
> >> information
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Leica Users Group.
> >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more
> >> information
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Leica Users Group.
> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Leica Users Group.
>See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information

Chris Saganich MS, CPH
Senior Physicist, Office of Health Physics
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
New York Presbyterian Hospital
chs2018@med.cornell.edu
http://intranet.med.cornell.edu/research/health_phys/
Ph. 212.746.6964
Fax. 212.746.4800
Office A-0049








"I am the radiation"  



Replies: Reply from mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner) ([Leica] Re: Ansel Adams and digital)
In reply to: Message from tcb at thadbrown.com (TCB) ([Leica] Re: Ansel Adams and digital)
Message from mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner) ([Leica] Re: Ansel Adams and digital)