Did AA listen to music in the darkroom?

[Al Seyle]

Everyone knows he was an accomplished pianist so it follows that he must have had music on in the lab at times. Anyone here know? Just curious.

[Ole Tjugen]

I think it's unlikely - after all, he used a metronome for timing the exposure. Anyone who has tried that will know that music makes you lose the beat...

[James Meckley]

Adams didn't use a conventional darkroom timer but instead preferred to count the beats on an electronic metronome as a way of timing his basic exposures and his burning/dodging routines. I have a feeling that any music going on in the background (or foreground, for that matter) would have been very distracting to him as he tried to count the beats of the motronone. It certainly would be to me.

[Eduardo Aigner]

I believe there is a radio on his darkroom picture on "The Print".

[paulr]

you can listen to music when you're printing with a metronome ... just turn it down when you're exposing. good way to keep things from vibrating also.

no idea about a.a. or anyone else, but personally, i can't imagine printing without music. and i use a metronome.

[Kevin Crisp]

Now you're done it, Dan. People are going to want to know what brand of shoes.

[David Flockhart]

3/4 or 4/4 beat? I need to know or I can't make good prints!

[Ellen Stoune Duralia]

I can always count on you folks for a laugh - thanks!

[Nick Morris]

W. Eugene Smith listened to music in the darkroom. Also had a TV with a filter over the screen.
Used a footswitch with his timer/enlarger/safelight for exposures, but I do not remember reading if he used a metronome. He was supposed to have a huge record collection, about 25,000.

[Benno Jones]

A teacher of mine who was fortunate enough to visit AA's darkroom said he had a grand piano in the darkroom area that he played when the mood struck.

[Ellen Stoune Duralia]

Wow! Wish my darkroom space was large enough to accomodate such a luxury! Hell, I wish my darkroom space had a sink :0

[Pete Watkins]

I understand that he also had a candellebra with a red filter system :-))

[paulr]

A grand piano is nice if you can afford it.
All I have is a D.J. and a couple of cage dancers suspended from the ceiling.

[Mike Butler]

I'm just a newcomer to this forum, but folklore has it that he did indeed listen to classical music while printing, and many of his disciples continue this practice.

However, I also have it on good authority from one of those same-said disciples that AA liked to cut loose occasionally and blast some Liberace in the darkroom, which verifies Pete's post. I'm also told that his assistants were the ones who wore clogs, and they danced a merry jig while the enlarger was on so the Great One could accurately time his exposures.

Best,

Mike

[Al Seyle]

As a teenager I grew up in Santa Cruz across Monterey Bay from Carmel in the 50s and 60s. My Dad always had the radio glued to the only classical station in the area which was in Carmel. I always thought Carmel must be a pretty sophisticated place where everyone had good taste and listened to Classical music all the time. Ansel moved to Carmel in 1962. Perhaps he listened to the same station.

There's something about one's teenage years that stay in memory the longest and with the most detail...

[Tom Diekwisch]

I guess the most famous link between photography and classical music was that of Godowsky (son of Leopold Godowsky, the famous piano virtuoso) and Leopold Mannes (son of the concert master of the NYP and a violinist himself) who used to whistle classicle tunes during their photographic experiments that lead to the invention of the Kodachrome film. Don't know about Ansel, but I believe that I remember reading somewhere that he was a fan of classical music and a skilled interpreter (forgot which instrument though) and that he would have gone for classical music if it wouldn't have been for photography... Choose carefully!

[Mark Sawyer]

Just wondering... did Adams ever release recordings of any of his piano performances? I've never heard of one, but wouldn't be surprised...