Hey Michael,
That's all sort of a distinction without a difference. I think you missed the point. You're not a lawyer, by chance?
Stillman is either a named Trustee or very, very close to the Trust. I believe that *every* book since Ansel's death--every book that the Trust has cooperated with--has had her or one of the few others with the Trust--as editors or authors. So I perceive a conflict in that the people who decide who gets to use Ansel's photos and who don't--and by extension that determines sales of the book to a significant degree--are the same people who have decided that only *they* get to be the authors and editors. They both control the Trust and use that power to benefit themselves personally. It's that or they themselves really are the best authors and editors for the Ansel books, year after year. What do you think?
The result is that the books that are published with the Trust's consent, with maybe one exception, are lightweight things, burnishing Ansel's market appeal but doing little to offer any serious insight or examination of his work.
The current book, of which I've read extensive excerpts, is just the same. Lots of happy talk and the same, old, old stories. Did you know that when Ansel was shooting Moonrise he wasn't able to make his second negative because the light faded? Oh my! And that when he was shooting from the Diving Board at Half Dome he saw in his mind's eye for the first time the completed photo, etc. etc.? Reeeeaaallly? You can just imagine the Trust folks sitting around bouncing ideas for books around, ideas for books that would really sell. You can almost hear someone say "Hey, we could do *Examples* again!"
There *are* some cool things in the book--right away you see the Hasselblad contact sheet from Moon and Half Dome, that's cool--but these people are strangling Ansel. They are making him into a cartoon and his work is suffering because of it. And it sure seems that they are doing it and enriching themselves at the same time.
I guess I do have a problem with that, yes.
--Darin
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