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Nick Ut / AP
Photographs displayed during a news conference, made from glass plate negatives shot by the late photographer Ansel Adams are seen in Beverly Hills, on Tuesday July 27,2010. A lawyer says a trove of old glass negatives found in a garage sale for 45 dollars, by Rick Norsigian a painter from Fresno, Calif. has been authenticated as the work of photographer Ansel Adams and are worth at least $200 million.
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I just love his work.
The only things I've found at garage sales were old shoes and 'free-with-purchase' giveaways.
One day...my photos will be worth 200 million. Maybe not 200 million dollars, but...something. Don't laugh. A girl can dream can't she.
The Negatives are The Score, and The Prints the Performance.
That being said, the author of the article made a boo boo by mixing the terms prints and negatives. All of the items being authenticated are negatives, there are no prints in the batch.
Ansel's work was legendary, true, but his prints were where he really shined!
Lola, just keep shooting anything and everything. If it's raining look down, if it's foggy shoot for color, keep trucking along developing your eye, it's yours and no one else has it. It's not a dream, it's a reality.
I would like to someday earn enough from my photography to buy my own pad. Ribbit.
I find that texture captures my eye. Always has. And leaves. I have a thing for leaves it seems.
Ok, so texture it is, and leaves.
Texture is a very refined form of phrogging, I sometimes confuse patterns with texture, and while similar, they are quite different. The three-D quality of texture when captured is truly delicate and refined and leaves are full of texture, as well as color.
Studying the work of great painters can be of good inspiration, no?
For the great painters, I gravitate to Klimt, Degas, Vermeer, Seurat and of course Monet. When I'm in a mood, Goya. So shadows and dappled light.
There is an Eucalyptus tree out behind our home with the most amazing bark texture. It's like light on water, but has a velvet texture to it. The light would have to be just right. But I find the light in San Diego to often be difficult to work with.
Patterns are great when you stumble on them. My husband notices that more often than I do. Architecture is fun for patterns and clean lines. I also like shadows and spider webs. Trite, but interesting none-the-less.
I've always thought His work could use a little more color
Matthew Adams the grandson of the late photographer doubts the authenticity of these photos. Who are you going to believe anyway... Him or a Beverly Hills attorney?
SB...Over the years there has been numerous forgeries floating around the Art world. How dificult could it really be to replicate this material?
Some historians might be able to date the negatives by determining the look of a tree or some natural matter (then and now) in the negatives. I know that part of the Overhanging Rock at Glacier Point fell off at a certain time. Is this negative before or after that change?
It's a phrog's world after all.
Lola, I've been shooting a series called Bark for the past year or two, anticipating changing light and having a camera ready-not that I always do, I don't have an iPhone-helps, euch is a very pretty bark, especially when it peals. Architecture may best be described as capturing shapes. Robert Hood, our editor, has a "Blog Roll" that has an online mag called Strobist on it, it's all about lighting. Maybe this is time to try some flash work? Go to a Robert Hood pic post and scroll to the bottom and then click on the strobist link, if you'd like to learn more.
If you haven't read it already, get a copy of Ansel's Autobiography, it's a fascinating read.
Earl, if I were doing forensics I'd look at the lens choices, the format, the locations, time of day, age of glass and the marking and writing. It would seem natural for a relative, who would love to capitalize on his elders work to refute the findings of others, especially when such a large figure is put up for the value of the art.
What sort of work does Ansel's Grandson do, I wonder?
I Ribbit you this.....
I agree with SB on this Earl. The article specifically mentions that many of the glass negatives are from almost the exact same scene from his most famous photos. Very probably the second or third shots of a particular location. I know I take at least 3 or 4 shots of anything, just in case.
I think the grandson wouldn't want to see 200 million go to anyone else.
I think it is GREAT!!!. A part of history has surfaced once again. How can you disput that they are Ansel Adams when he is in the pic? The pictures are a wonderful capture of our history of the land,which will and has been changed. Just a reminder of what was and what is today.
No point and shoot.
How many photographers traveled to Yosemite in the 1920's? It was a rough road, literally, the accomodations were, for the most part, primitive, and cameras back then weighed a lot, cost a bundle and were very difficult to use effectively. To even get close to the quality of some of these negatives took some knowledge of camera, weather and terrain, each of which Ansel had, because he lived in Yosemite for most of the year back then.
iPhones and other Point and Shoots didn't exist in those early days of phrogging.
Great photos! They sure look like Adams' work -- it's so distinctive. Even if they're not, they're spectacular. Lucky guy to score these in a garage sale!
A friend of mine just tweeted me this link:
http://www.petapixel.com/2010/07/29/ansel-adams-garage-sale-mystery-apparently-solved/
The jist of this is that a gal claims her uncle took the shots on the glass negatives! Wait and see....
Even if these negatives are "Uncle Earls" they are still stunning. I frequently used Ansel Adams and his recommendations when teaching photography at the H.S. level for some 20 years. There is still no substitute for honest toned black and white images. I would love to see the prints at Fresno State in Oct. whether they be Ansel's or Earl's! Problem....I'm back home in Indiana
D.G., you got that right.
Nothing is so pure and honest as a large format camera with a small aperture setting on the lens shooting b&w. The f/64 group, of which Ansel was a member, promoted "pure" photography, which had clarity and depth of field due to the diaphram opening after which The Group was named.
I do think Ansel would embrace digital, however, he wasn't one to stay tied down.
These are gorgeous photos no matter who took them, though I am inclined to think that pine tree photo is an Uncle Earl. Those two photos look like they were taken seconds, maybe minutes - apart.