The Ansel Adams gallery has just announced that they will be selling " Digital reproductions" of 7 of Ansel's images. My question is are the prints made by scanning his negs or are they going from a print? If these are from scanning his negs I would be curious to compare these to an original just to see if there is a difference. The prices aren't to bad either.
You should contact the AA Gallery and ask them. And yes there is a difference.Originally Posted by ignatiusjk
Adams' negatives are at the Center for Creative PHotography at the University of Arizona and while they can be studied by certain students for research purposes, no one is allowed to sell prints made from them. I'm not aware that the Gallery is an exception to this rule established by Adams and the University. So if the Gallery is selling digital reproductions they'd presumably have to be made from prints.
Brian Ellis
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
a mile away and you'll have their shoes.
THe AA Gallery has been making silver gelatin prints from original AA negatives for years (Special Editions)...Alan Ross has been the printer. It is probably safe to assume that not ALL of AA's negatives went to CCP, but many remain with the family.
Vaughn
That is correct, Alan is printing from Ansel's negatives.
As a related aside, Brooks Jensen ("Lenswork" magazine,) has announced in his latest issue that they've introduced a new line of print portfolios, all inkjet prints. In his editorial announcing the new portfolios, he says that he's been watching the technology advance and now feels that he's found the combination of printer/inks/paper to at least equal gelatin silver prints.
With the pace of new product introductions, perhaps some folks feel that digital has "arrived". I know, I know: some feel that it "arrived" a while back and others wonder if the hype will ever overcome more than digital enthusiasts' feelings of inadequacy.Let's not go there.
A number of years ago Brooks had a line of prints made from digital negatives printed onto traditional gelatin silver paper. This project ended when he could no longer get the requisite negatives made (I don't know the details, sorry.) Now he's making prints directly from digital files. I've been a long-time reader of "Lenswork" and know that Brooks and his staff are absolutely uncompromising in terms of image quality. If they believe that the prints are that good, and if Adams' gallery thinks their prints are that good, perhaps the world of collectors is about to change again.
Mike
Politically, aerodynamically, and fashionably incorrect.
Mike, there is something important missing in this conjecture.Would Ansel have thought the prints to be "that good"? We will never know his answer. The opportunities to make money from his fame as a photographer continue, and will continue. However, what may be offered will be quite different from his masterful gelatin silver prints. Collectors will seek those.
> if Adams' gallery thinks their prints are that good, perhaps the world of collectors is about to change again.
I think it is not about whether the prints are good, but about how, by whom, and when they were made.
I'm not sure that the Ansel Adams Gallery choosing to offer digital reproduction prints is anything more than a smart business decision. Once you get a nice 8x10 digital version of an Adams print tweaked up; anyone can click print and make a few repros. I mean you can click around on a scan from one of his negatives all day and all night and you would be hard pressed to make an inkjet copy that could stand up to an original... but man that would be fun!
It does make me think about snatching up a few of Alan Ross's reprints though.
Will Wilson
www.willwilson.com
Adams was well known for the amount of work he put into making a print in the darkroom. Some of the instructions for printing his negatives are mind boggling. My thought is that they would be scans from a print, as Adams championed the interpretation of the negative as a vital part his process. A negative scan would be thoroughly incomplete from Adams perspective, I would think. As far as any difference, yes, of course, Adams didn't print them, and they are made in a different media.
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