Favorite Ansel quote and why.

[Helcio J Tagliolatto]

At his Yosemite workshop in 1980, On meeting "the man" at a reception at the gallery:
"m'names Ansel sonny, whats yours?" Later that evening someone asked him about his recent meeting with president Reagan regarding the Sierra Club. "Stupidest son of a bitch I ever met." A very real down to earth human being. Not a saint, but a very great artist (and he knew it). I never heard of him putting anyone down in order to promote himself.

Wow!!!! As usually, A.A. was rigth on!

[Deane Johnson]

At his Yosemite workshop in 1980, On meeting "the man" at a reception at the gallery:
"m'names Ansel sonny, whats yours?" Later that evening someone asked him about his recent meeting with president Reagan regarding the Sierra Club. "Stupidest son of a bitch I ever met." A very real down to earth human being. Not a saint, but a very great artist (and he knew it). I never heard of him putting anyone down in order to promote himself.

Did you actually hear him say those things yourself? They sound very uncharacteristic of Ansel.

[Barry Trabitz]

I was the "sonny". (I was 47 at the time.) And yes he did say that about Reagan, he then added commentary. From what his friend and assistant said this was not unusual for him to have strong opinions about politicians who did not support his stance on the environment.

[Deane Johnson]

From what his friend and assistant said this was not unusual for him to have strong opinions about politicians who did not support his stance on the environment.

That would not surprise me. Probably nobody would be more justified in feeling he should protect the environment.

[Jim Galli]

"....a Cooke of course."

[Steve M Hostetter]

I think Ansel thought highly of Jimmy Carter .. after all he is the president that awarded Ansel with the metal

[Deane Johnson]

It's starting to come back to me a bit now. Reagen appointed a fellow from Coors Brewery in Colorado as Interior Secretary. His name was James Watt. He was considered by the conservationists as being a bit on the slash and burn side.

I remember a photo of Ansel with a sweatshirt that had Watt's photo on it and the words Watts Wrong. Yes, I think posts above are correct, Ansel was pretty anti Reagen.

[Ed O'Grady]

I'm not sure of the exact circumstances, or place, but Ansel was viewing a group of photographs from several students, and commented, after questioning them about their technique, that they "Appeared to be rolling around in the Dust of Confusion"

[Brian Ellis]

Did you actually hear him say those things yourself? They sound very uncharacteristic of Ansel.

There's an interesting discussion of his meeting with Reagan in Mary Alinder's book and yes, he probably did say that because his only point of view was Reagan's environmental policies as carried out by James Watts, which even an admirer of Reagan would be hard put to defend.

[Vlad Soare]

My favorite quote is from one of his books, I can't remember which one. It might be The Negative but I'm not sure about it. It was something like "I'm sure the future will belong to electronic imaging, and I really hope I shall live to see it." I'm quoting from memory, so he may have used slightly different words, but that was the idea anyway.
It amazes me how many people are obsessed with what gear/film/developer/whatever Ansel used, how many people use HC-110 "because Ansel used it", or shoot large format "because Ansel did it", when in reality he was an open-minded person who used the best tool for the job and didn't seem to see anything magical about gear or film.
I have always admired his work, but this quote makes me admire him personally, too. He was much more open-minded that I am.