It is a rare and special thing to be able to view large collection of a wonderful photographer’s best work. We visited Charlie Cramer’s show at the Center for Photographic Arts again yesterday while visiting Carmel. If you can get to Carmel to see the show, I don’t think you will be disappointed! The show is in it’s last week, so go now…
Category Archives: Shows
‘Ansel Adams: Early Works’ at the San Jose Museum of Art
As noted earlier, yesterday I again visited the “Ansel Adams: Early Works” exhibit at the San Jose Museum of Art. (Yesterday was supposed to be the final day – so if you missed it, I’m afraid you missed it!)
I always see and learn more when I have a chance to revisit work like this, and this was my second visit to this show. One of the wonderful things about it was that most of the photographs were small! This meant that they were presented more intimately, forcing one to look at them in a way different from our typical “monumental photograph” mindset when we look at Adams’ landscapes. In addition, many were from the 1920s (especially) and early 1930s before he adopted the more sharp and high contrast style with which most of us are more familiar.
A few things I came away with:
I’m so impressed with his seemingly atypical photograph of Stieglitz in his gallery in New York, with its beautiful composition and wonderful use of light and tonality. And next to this (small) photograph was a simple quote from Adams that (finally!) crystallized the whole Stieglitz “equivalence” thing for me.
I think I actually liked some of the early prints more than some the later ones, at least in a few cases. Side by side were hung two versions of the famous “Monolith” Half Dome photograph from the Diving Board. One was a small and rather dark early print, and the other was a much larger print made later that exhibits the lighter and brighter appearance. To me, the upper portion of the larger and more famous version has “issues,” especially in the handling of tones near the upper right corner. I think I actually prefer the darker rendition of his earlier print. (I guess that if I could “make my own Adams,” I might start with the darker one and go about 20% of the way towards the lighter one.)
In the “how could I have missed this before” department was my sudden recognition of the obvious parallels between one of his “White House Ruin” photographs (not the more famous one shot from an oblique angle but one shot straight on that even includes a bit of fence in the foreground) and the “Frozen Lake and Cliffs” photograph from Precipice Lake in the Sierra. Not only do both feature similar vertical banded patterns on the predominant rock faces, but both feature small “pyramid” shapes (sun-lit brush in the former and snow in the latter) and contrasting horizontal bands at the bottom of the frame (sunlit ground in the former and the ce/lake in the latter).
I also thought more about the photograph of roots that he made in Hawaii. As I understand it, Adams said that he didn’t really quite connect with Hawaii in the same way he connected with other subjects that he worked with. But this particular photograph – featuring a beautifully lit and composed group of curving roots and some small leaves – is truly wonderful.
Finally, in an odd way it reassures me to see some Ansel Adams prints that seem, how to say this, “not so special.” This is an important reminder of so many things: How astonishing it is when truly amazing work emerges from the background of lesser work; reaffirmation that no artist just creates great stuff – failure (often a lot of it!) is necessary as well; and a clearer sense of the humanity of Adams.
Sorry you missed it!
Night photography news – time to catch up!
It has been far too long since I’ve posted on the subject of night photography, one of the subjects that interests me a great deal. There is so much other stuff for me to photograph during the summer months – urban and natural landscape, “my” Sierra Nevada, the coast, and so on – that I tend to slack off on the night photography this time of year. However, as summer draws to an end, night photography is one subject that seems to increasingly begin to interest me again.
So, with that in mind, a few notes related to the subject.
Late last week fellow SF Bay Area photographer Ivan Makarov contacted me to say that he was organizing a group of photographers to do a night photography shoot at the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard. He knew that I have shot there in the past (lots of examples in my night photography gallery) and asked for some advice about access and locations. I shared with him a bit of what I know about the location and also connected him with Tim Baskerville of The Nocturnes, the SF Bay Area night photography group since Tim is our local guru of all things related to night photography. After consulting with Tim and getting permission from the folks at Mare Island, Ivan got back to me and I decided to join his group. I won’t spoil the fun by saying too much here, but I’m currently working on photographs from the outing and they will show up here in a few weeks. (Impatient readers can get an early look by checking out my Flickr stream.)
So, since the pump was primed with that bit of night photography last weekend, I’ll catch up with the night photography news.
One great source for night photography information – and especially for coverage of shows featuring night photographers – is Andy Frazer’s Night Photography Blog. Recent news at his blog includes the following:
- An opening this week of a night photography show in Alameda featuring the work of several well-know local night photographers: Troy Paiva, Mike Hows and Joe Reifer. Follow the first link in this bullet to find more info about the location, times/dates, and the opening reception.
- Also during the month of August Any kept up a steady stream of posts highlighting a number of compelling examples of night photography – visit the blog and take a look.
Over at The Nocturnes Night Photography Blog you’ll find some seemingly random quotations… mixed in with some very interesting posts on local night photography events and shows.
I’m hearing rumors of an upcoming Mare Island Reunion for previous participants in The Nocturnes workshops. If you are a past Nocturnes participant and you haven’t heard from Tim… you might want to check this out.
Finally, if you are looking for some information on how to do night photography, let me point out two resources:
- The Nocturnes web site is the portal to a ton of information on the subject, ranging from technique to photographer to workshop opportunities. I strongly recommend that you visit!
- For a very quick list of some basic considerations for night photography, take a look at my own Hints for Night Photography post.
Dorothea Lange at Shorpy
The Shorpy web site features a steady stream of wonderful older photographs – subscribe if you haven’t already. Among the photos in the stream are some real gems, such as some of the Dorothea Lange photographs showing up this week.