New Ansel Adams prints

[David A. Goldfarb]

Thanks for the info on Alan Ross's recent AA Special Edition prints.

Still, my understanding is that during AA's lifetime, low cost prints were made from dupe negatives. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

It is certainly possible to make excellent dupes with LF dupe negs. Kenneth Taranto Lab used to (and perhaps still does) have shows of various NY headshot photographers, where they would show original prints next to dupes, and it was often very difficult to tell which was the original.

[QT Luong]

I purchased an Adams special edition print probably thirty years ago, on my first trip to Kalifornia. At that time the blurb attached to the print was that the prints were made from copy negatives of original Adams prints and then contact printed to make the special edition print. I think I paid $40. (my recollection, anyway)

Maybe this has changed over the years as I haven't kept up on what they've been doing.

John

The detailed information is on the AA site:
http://www.anseladams.com/content/ca...g_methods.html
It does state they are projection prints.
BTW, $40 thirty years ago is $135, so there is a bit of appreciation (current price is $202).

[Drew Wiley]

I grew up near Yosemite, and would get a spanking if I went running into Best Studio
and knocked something off the shelf. But my older brother recalled when Adams' prints
were packaged ten for forty dollars. These were presumably made by his darkroom students, and although they might be worth more than four dollars apiece today, probably aren't worth much. Adams also made a heck of a lot of work prints - after all, that is how he made his living, primarily as a commercial photographer, not as an artist.
Many of those kinds of prints aren't particularly valuable either. Well, let's take something like "Moonrise". It's all a matter of supply and demand, just like an EBay auction. Just after he died, a few of those Moonrise prints auctioned off around forty
grand apiece, then all of a sudden the market was flooded with them. He made around 350 of them. The price collapsed. So what is the point in purchasing a digital reproduction? Fine, if you like the image and just want it for decor. And it keeps
gallery income coming in. But no one should pretend that these reproductions have any
significant long-term value, no matter how faithfully they resemble the original.

[John Jarosz]

After reading the blurb on the AA site, I had to look at the back of my print.

It does say that the print was made from Ansel's original negative by Alan Ross.

Interestingly enough, there is not date on the print.

John

[Bill_1856]

I've always maintained that photographs should only be purchased for the pleasure of seeing them, not for any potential appreciation.
I was lucky in that many of the prints I purchased "in the old days, when they were cheap" have become quite valuable, but to be honest I enjoy my gravure copies of Strand, Steichen, Gene Smith, Lange, etc, just as much as my "real" prints.
The one exception that I can reall is a vintage Edward Weston print of Pepper #30, which I was offered for $10,000. But I didn't have that kind of dough (still don't), and my Cole Weston print completely lacks the innate beauty and feeling of Edward's originals.

[Kerik Kouklis]

I've been teaching for the AA Workshops since 2000. I was shown some of these new edition inkjet prints when I was there a few weeks ago. They are being made from scans of original prints made by Ansel. The idea is to offer prints in much larger and varied sizes while keeping the cost affordable. I was able to look at several of these close up in my hands and they are quite nice. It is also my understanding the Alan makes the special edition silver prints from original negatives.

[Brian_A]

Just for $#!7s and giggles, you can also get the inkjet prints at the Edward Weston gallery in Carmel. At least I'm pretty sure they're the inkjet ones because they looked exactly the same as the ones I saw when I was up at the AA gallery a few days later...

-Brian

[Kerik Kouklis]

Hmmm... maybe they stuck a deal with Weston Gallery. I was told a the prints would only be available from the AA Gallery.

[Brian_A]

Maybe I'm thinking the wrong thing prints. The Weston gallery has some form of Adams prints for sale. In the $20-$40 range if I recall correctly.

[Shen45]

My wife and I were in Yosemite this past spring and we visited the AA Gallery there and purchased one of Alan Ross' silver prints from one of AA's negatives. It is extraordinarily beautiful. On display next to it in the gallery was the same image that AA himself printed years earlier. As nice as Ross's print was, AA's was on another level. Mostly I'm sure due to his skill and to a lesser degree due to the silver rich paper he had available to him years ago. It will be interesting to compare these new offerings.
Tim

You make an excellent point. I was in the AA gallery in 2006 and agree about the prints done by Alan Ross and AA himself. The prints were wonderful by both men and yes there was a difference but that is completely understandable. I seem to recall you could also buy a digital print of Ansel's work back then in 2006. I would have considered a print by Alan Ross but a digital copy made me feel somehow dirty

The price as I recall was about US$20.00