Ahaa! It was Uncle Earl, in the parlor, with the candlestick!
(my earlier blog on the matter.)
Ahaa! It was Uncle Earl, in the parlor, with the candlestick!
(my earlier blog on the matter.)
I understand that William Turnage has a long and continuing business relationship with the AA family, and even worked with AA himself on business matters.Originally Posted by Darin Boville
According to CNN:
1) William Turnage, the managing trustee of Adams’ trust, called Norsigian and those working with him “a bunch of crooks” who “are pulling a big con job.”
2) Turnage said Norsigian’s strategy is to line up a long list of hired experts to tell “a big lie.” "Hitler used that technique," Turnage said. "You don't tell a small one. You tell a big one."
Bad move.
Everything I’ve read indicates to me that Rick Norsigian is an honest man, who may have fumbled on his selection of “experts” and PR people (including the author of the hot-under-the-collar press realease above).
But they’re not the Gestapo.
Well, they seem to have gone out of their way to detour the opinion of anyone directly connected to the alleged source of the negatives, or who had relevant direct experience handling AA's negatives. That kind of lopsided approach to the question should be enough in itself to make someone suspicious.
Everything I have read about him on his web site and in news articles indicates he is a crook.
Nice website.
Negatives have value. Glass negatives from prior to 1930 taken by unknown novices usually sell for 10 to 30 dollars. Better the picture higher the price. Most collectors are looking for images that show the era, not landscapes that could have been taken yesterday. (if your buying something old, you want it to look old)
Dry plate glass negatives were wide spread prior to 1930, so to me it is no big deal the negatives in question are glass negatives.
Back then everybody shot big negatives 4x5 was pretty standard for most negatives as most drug store prints were contact made. So it seems also normal for a semi-pro to shoot 5x7
In the Uncle Earl's photo it appears the tripod is in the exact same spot and height. Today we do that with AA photos, but I doubt people were doing it in 1930. The photos appear to have been taken about 3 to 5 minutes apart, as the clouds are different but the shadows are not.
Maybe AA was sharing the tripod with Uncle Earl.
(that was a joke)
Let’s be careful to put on our critical hats.
“Irresponsible” would be a more suitable characterization for Rick Norsigian.
In the mean time, it might be wise to defer to Matthew Adams:
“While Matthew Adams is unconvinced [reports CNN], he doesn’t doubt that Norsigian is sincere in his belief that he has Ansel Adams negatives. ‘I think that they do believe it, but I don't think that they have proven it,’ he said. He doesn’t agree, however, with Turnage's charge that it's a ‘con job.’ ”
It would doubtless be a roller coaster of a ride. I don't know anything about Norsigian, but if you found those and spend perhaps your life savings hiring lawyers and experts to arrive at a pre-arranged conclusion and have hopes of worlds of fortunes then it all comes crashing down because of Uncle Earl...........yikes. So it goes with this worlds fortunes. I'm investing in the next.
As far as I'm concerned, let's do the thought experiment that assumes the negatives are absolutely, incontrovertably Ansel's negatives. To the best of my knowledge, Ansel never printed any of these negatives, so what makes them different from any of the other tens of thousands of negatives that he didn't print?
For that matter, haven't the Special Edition Prints set the price ($225) for prints of Ansel's negatives printed by someone else?
That said, from what I've read, I don't believe they are authentic Adams negatives, and that's all that I want to say, or read further about this...
John Clark
I wonder if AA took these? Must be worth a pretty penny, er, quid.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540...01032#38501032
Wilhelm (Sarasota)
Dear Heroique;
I agree with you completely and am astounded by the vitriol being spewed by Mr. Turnage. I met Ansel Adams in 1956 and remained friends with him until his death and I can assure you that as important as his photographic legacy was to him, he was also the most generous, kind and gentle man, with the greatest sense of humor and ardent passion for his work and he would be appalled by this uncalled for behavior by someone he admired very much. Merg Ross knew Ansel much longer than I did and I'm sure he would agree with me. While I don't believe these negatives are by Ansel, for many different reasons, I certainly am not willing to convict those who believe otherwise, of being likened to the greatest villain who ever lived. What, in God's name, has become of civility in our country?
Denise Libby
Last edited by archer; 1-Aug-2010 at 02:26. Reason: spelling
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