Ansel Adams Quote?

[Mark Barendt]

Drew, you don't get it either.

I grew up in CA and live in the Rockies and really don't give a darn about hiking great distances, to get a shot or otherwise.

Don't get me wrong I'll hike a bit, but it never involves carrying a tent or sleeping bag and rarely requires more than an energy bar and a liter of water.

[Drew Wiley]

Thought this is what about Ansel liked to do. And anyone who has serious traisped around
these hills out here knows damn well that it took some effort to get to many of his famous
photographic viewpoints. Even something "relatively" close to the road, like his shot of Iceberg Lake up in the Minarets, required him lugging a heavy camera up the adjacent
Volcanic spur opposite. Ever been up that way? I once saw three people fall from the
glacier above Iceberg. I wouldn't even think of crossing between the upper lakes without an ice axe. He took lots of famous shots from the upper Kern plateau. That's quite a ways back from any direction. Deny all you want, but that old coot was a very serious outdoorsman; and there is a mountain of visual evidence that wilderness was a major
photographic theme of his. Yeah, by the time he hit his mid-30's he was using pack animals
to get around, and lots of his work was done in the vicinity of trails - but trails and auto
roads are still distinct from one another. But heck, I'm personally a coot myself, and damn
happy to still be lugging around an 8x10 up steep hills even if I never take a shot all day.

[tgtaylor]

Yeah, by the time he hit his mid-30's he was using pack animals
to get around,

Actually Adams used pack mules from the git go. There's a letter fom him to his old man asking for the funds to buy a mule for $20 and claiming that he could resell the mule at the end of the season for $10. He used a mule when shooting his first universally recognized image, and the one that brought him to national recognition, of Banner Peak from 1000 Island Lake. I can't remember who it was that was holding the mule while Ansel set up his camera for the shot.

Thomas

[tgtaylor]

By the time Adams hit his thirties he was using assistants.

Thomas

[Drew Wiley]

Our family donkey "Anabelle" was fairly famous. A neigbor who was a rodeo clown and Hall of Famer would pull this baby donkey out of his baggy clown pants, and when it got too
big he gave it to us. I got used to donkeys and mules on childhood backcountry trips,
though I carried a pack myself. Then I briefly worked for an outfitter in the high country.
I think llamas would be more convenient for carrying gear. But I sold my pasture, and really
prefer backpacking anyway. Lots of what Ansel did was on those big Sierra Club convoys,
which we local ended up resenting so much. Always knew where those things had been
by all the erosion and litter. Might have made sense in the early days of environmental
awareness, but was an anachronism thereafter.

[Darin Boville]

So, back to the original post.

My bet is that Ed Weston said something like "close to the car" and the 500 /feet/yards quote is Brett one-upping his dad. I see the 500 yards one attributed to Ed all over the web, though I'd bet money that it is wrong.

Trouble is I can't find and sources for either quote, though I'm sure I've read it myself. The Ed quote might be in one of the AA books though I thought it was in the Daybooks. I've looked a little but no luck.

Anyone know of anything in print?

--Darin

[Mark Barendt]

Thought this is what about Ansel liked to do.

Funny, I thought the thread was about staying close to the car

I remember reading several times that someone once said to St. Ansel: "There is nothing worth photo'ing that's more than 30 ft. from the car." Who was it that said that?



Kent in SD

[Drew Wiley]

What's a car?

[ROL]

Reminds me somewhat of the "tube tents" we used in the Boy Scouts for backpacking in the 60's! Of course, tube tents were not as sophisticated as to have zippers (a few clothes pins worked), just a tube of clear plastic one strung a line though between trees.

Used them happily in rain and snow, back then. One time, above treeline, my hiking partner ran the line from the ground at the foot end, anchored by a rock sitting on top of a boulder at the head end. Sometime during the thunderstorm gusts of the night I was beaned by the rock as it was torn loose. Just sayin' – anything I say or have ever said in these forums should be regarded with that salient admonition.

[ROL]

There's a sort of founding mythology in every field, much of it passed around in a sort of oral tradition (even when it is on the internet). I'm still convinced that the Ansel quote mention above--the topic of this thread!--isn't quite right. The "Ansel founded the national parks" sort of claim forms part of that mythology. You'd get the impression that Ansel sent a few picts over the Congress one day and then they said, "Well, shucks, that decides it! Look at dem pretty pictures!"

The real story on this (as on all legislation) is much more complicated. Here's what appears to be a great history of Sequoia-Kings Canyon's founding. Ansel is not mentioned as far as I can see.

http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online...ilsaver-tweed/

Of course Ansel played a role, and an important one, both as a photographer and as a environmentalist. But I doubt he had anything quite like the god-like influence that many here think. If you want to claim otherwise I only request that you cite your sources...

--Darin

I generally do cite my sources. I thought that was the point of my post. Do you ever follow my links? Your argument and assertions regarding my quote are made out of whole cloth. Tweed is in fact a well known park historian of SEKI. The link you've posted is to single paged (abridged) versions of what appears to be a more detailed published book. No one in this post has claimed that Adams was totally responsible for the creation of the park. But it is true that his photographs, pretty much in the way that Drew has indicated played a pivotal role in the its final legal establishment, after having been in limbo for many years. The colorful, folksy way (gol durn it!) you've ascribed, seems pretty close to the mark, actually. It would seem that you are a victim of your own beliefs, mythology and all.

Adams' own words and those who have written without guile about him, make it very clear that he was no god–like anything. Please read published, reviewed works. Don't accept unsubstantiated internet opinion, even mine. Your ignorance is showing. Honestly, somebody needs to knock that chip off your shoulder.