Ben and I liked different quotes from today’s chapter about the taking of one of Adams most popular images: Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico.
Ben liked it when Adams said, “Sometimes I think I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter!”
I liked Adams response to being criticized for not including people in his images: “… there were always two people in his pictures: the photographer and the viewer.”
As a non-photographer, I had never considered the importance of what takes place in the darkroom. I had always seen the ’picture’ as being captured at the moment the shutter was opened. I was thinking about how Adams would have ‘processed’ the same shot today from a digital image. It took him nearly 30 years to get the print that captured his visualization of the moment. With some Photoshop skills he could have easily manipulated the image in a few hours. Additionally, the initial image would not have needed to be nearly as close to the printed image.
I wonder if/where Adams would have drawn the processing line.
Ben and I both wondered what 8 year old Michael was thinking as he traveled with his father. It is ‘romantic’ to think he would have loved the adventure but I cannot help but think that he would have been very bored stuck in the back seat of a dusty hot car. Hours of driving and looking, followed by tedious setup followed by a few captured images – then back in the car. I wonder what visualization of the ‘moonlight’ moment Michael carried with him into his life and how that compared to the image produced nearly 30 years later that best captured Ansel’s vision.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Chapter 9 - Michael: Interested or bored?
Posted by Mr. Z at 10:44 AM
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Found this account of Micheal's remembrance of the shot:
(From Adams Gallery)From Michael Adams, Ansel's son and one of his early (although non-technical) assistants
“Ansel was driving, and Cedric was in the passenger seat. I was eight years old, half listening to the banter, watching the world fly by out the window. We were in Ansel's old Pontiac station wagon, heading back to Santa Fe . It had been a long day, and not, apparently, very successful.
I don't really remember any discussion about the potential of Moonrise at the time, only that we were moving really fast. Ansel was by nature prone to driving fast, but skilled and certainly not reckless. It was quite a shock, therefore, to suddenly be on the gravel shoulder of the road, fishtailing and dust flying as Ansel slammed on the brakes.
“Hurry ! Hurry ! Hurry ! Grab the camera case ! It's under there, get that out of the way. Where's the tripod. Film holders ! Hurry ! Where's the light meter ? ! ! Where's the light meter ? ! Oh, no, the light's going…” Things were flying out of the car and onto the ground as we were frantically grabbing things that Ansel needed.
Certainly not a direct quote, but at the end of it, Ansel knew he had something. He didn't find the light meter, but made he exposure based on the known luminosity of the moon – 250 foot candles. The rest, as they say, is history.”
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