What did AA actually see when he “came upon this extraordinary scene”?

[Heroique]

I would guess his first glance was caught by the sun-bright crosses against a dark background.

Then he started analyzing the whole scene.

Just speculation.

Now you’ve got me speculating...

I don’t know how long it takes to get from Chama Valley to Hernandez, but as Ansel was making his way, he must have noticed the ascending moon “following along” for some portion of the journey. (It’s an open desert view, after all.) I can only suspect that as he drove, he kept watching the moon (or stayed aware of it), ever-alert for a scene that might look good underneath it – and, when passing Hernandez, he (or his best instincts) stopped the car, the moon “stopped” over the scene, he liked what he saw – especially his visualization – and he began his feverish set-up process.

And now that I’m on a speculative roll w/ this ... I’m curious if Ansel might have had an idea or two while approaching Hernandez – that is, before arriving there – though his accounts suggest it was a purely spontaneous moment.

[Alan Curtis]

If you came across this same light situation now in Hernandez it wouldn't be as obvious. The old highway that AA was on was very close to the cemetery, now highway 84 is some distance away. If you don't know what you are looking for you would miss it now. The highlighted crosses were right in front him with no obstructions.

[darr]

I always wanted to know what he saw there as well. So I went there and spent quite a bit of time there.

Of course, it doesn't look now what it looked like then. Lots of homes have been built below the highway, and the trees have grown considerably.

I do agree with some of the others that his vision of the place changed over the years. In other words, what he saw when he made the exposure changed over time.

here is what it looks like now.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c87/22wrf/011.jpg

Thanks for the view Kevin!

[Mark Sawyer]

He was on a photographic trip, driving through a wonderful landscape at the time of the day when the light was best. I'm sure his eyes were searching for such an opportunity. Actually, he's quite lucky he didn't pull over a mile earlier for a more mundane foreground for the moonrise.

[rdenney]

And now that I’m on a speculative roll w/ this ... I’m curious if Ansel might have had an idea or two while approaching Hernandez – that is, before arriving there – though his accounts suggest it was a purely spontaneous moment.

Nah. I doubt he would have predicted a cemetary with brightly lit gravestones in horizon-rimmed sunlight. He might have been looking for something, but I doubt he was looking for that. I suspect that if he could claim he saw it coming, he would. He was humble enough in the movies I've seen of him, but he did not seem to me a person given to false humility.

Those bright crosses would have not looked remarkable from all angles, I don't suspect.

Rick "who once ran a quarter mile, tripod and camera in hand, to grab an ephemeral image like that" Denney

[Andrew O'Neill]

I'm sure Ansel wasn't pre-visualizing. I'll bet he was too busy dropping f-bombs (his buddy Cedric was busy holding his hands over Micheal's ears) trying to set up and find his light metre. Good thing AA new what foot candles the full moon is...

[Steve Smith]

Re: previsualization, it wasn't until several years after the negative was made that Adams started darkening the sky in prints. That part of the equation should be safely filed as "post-visualization"

What people are referring to as pre-visualisation is actually just visualisation. It is already in advance of doing something so the pre- is superfluous. If you read The Negative, The Camera and The Print, you will see that Adams only uses visualisation, not pre-visualisation.

This non-existent term has been wrongly attributed to Adams for many years.


Steve.

[Mark Sawyer]

This non-existent term has been wrongly attributed to Adams for many years.

Yep, it was Edward Weston who actually came up with the non-existant term.

[Brian Ellis]

Yep, it was Edward Weston who actually came up with the non-existant term.

I'm not aware that Weston came up with it though he might have, I haven't re-read everything by Edward Weston to search for the term. But where did you see that he did?

The first use of the term that I know of was by Adams in an early 1960s Polaroid publication. But it actually was Minor White who really gave impetus to it in his 1968 zone system manual. Or so I read in a Comment made by some guy named Steve Smith in a recent issue of The Online Photographer. : - ) For the complete discussion see
http://theonlinephotographer.typepad...nlearning.html

[Merg Ross]

Yep, it was Edward Weston who actually came up with the non-existant term.

Weston preferred the term "prevision", as used in this statement accompanying his 1930 exhibition at the Delphic Studios, New York:

"This is the approach: one must prevision and feel, BEFORE EXPOSURE,the finished print---complete in all values, in every detail---when focussing upon the camera ground glass. Then the shutter's release fixes for all time this image, this conception, never to be changed by afterthought, by subsequent manipulation. The creative force is released coincident with the shutter's release. There is no substitute for amazement felt, significance realized, at the TIME of EXPOSURE."

Edward Weston, 1930

(from, Edward Weston, "On Photography", Peter Bunnell, 1983, Peregrine Smith Books)