Ansel Adams

1902-1984

[endif]--Ansel Adams is one of the trendsetter in photography, his work as a photographer has highlighted as many issues. He has worked as a conservationist and helped in highlighting some wilderness areas in the American “Wild West”. Looking at his images without any shadow of a doubt he was far ahead of his time. Adams used cameras which were a step up from early photographers. They were not as developed as modern digital cameras. Early pioneers of photographic landscapes would have been amazed at the sophistication of his camera. Still bulky and cumbersome but still surpass what photographers used earlier. One of the things he is most known for is his zonal system, he had the ability to make an image looks HDR which give the full range of tones when it is clearly not ![endif]--

Jeffrey Pine. Sentinel Dome

This got to be one of the oldest pine trees around and although it has stood the test of time, it still stands among the great big rocks. The outer edge of the tree trunk forms a leading line which forces the viewer to look at the grey and white sky. Shadows from the pine tree helps in giving the boulder a nice design to its uneven surface to cover the foreground of the picture.

There is a leading line from the left of the left which goes all the way to the right of the picture which forms the mid-ground of the image. It can be clearly identified by its darker tone due to the light from the sun not completely reaching that area. The clarity of this picture is amazing, even without a modern DSLR camera; one could still see all the detail of the mid-ground.

Looking closely at the image, “not that one would have to look very hard” the background forms a back drop for the picture, though very far, the mountain can be seen disappearing into the distant sky. There is more light hitting the background than even the mid-ground of the image which again due to partially overcast condition of the sky.

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One continuing theme in Ansel Dams work that I have noticed is the fact that he likes reflections. Observing this picture, I am drawn to the fact that you could turn it upside down and it would look the same, (yes one could argue that it’s suppose to be because it’s a reflection) ok true but one can’t deny the clarity of the image. He puts a lot of planning into his work, as each picture has a different composition. The face of the rock in the background forms the central backdrop; its uneven surface gives an interesting texture. Due to the unevenness of the rock, the light that is provided by the sun gives that section of the mountain different tones.

I can see appreciate his work that he did as a conservationist, as if he hadn’t, then we would these majestic trees that we are enjoying today.