Ansel Adams: Sierra Nevada The John Muir Trail - repro quality ?

[QT Luong]

Although I am not sure I needed one more Ansel Adams book, after watching the Ken Burns National Parks series, I was intrigued by the role that Ansel Adams book "Sierra Nevada The John Muir Trail" had in helping establish Kings Canyon National Park. I then learned more about its history, as Adams first landscape photography book.

Ansel Adams expressed himself a lot of satisfaction over the reproductions of the John Muir Trail book, and Szarkowski calls this book a "landmark" in photography mechanical reproduction, so I assume the 1938 book was faithful to the prints.
The book was reprinted in 2006. Reviews on amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/082125717X/?tag=alargeformatphot) are mixed, with some complaining about poor reproduction quality, and some (including Ben Crane, who posts here) defending it as faithful to the less dramatic printing style of the early years.

However, my understanding is that most of the prints in "Ansel Adams at 100" (I am referring to the hard cover version) are also expressly based on earlier prints, yet there is a considerable difference between the centennial book at the John Muir Trail book. Take for instance the Precipice Lake image, and look at the shadow detail. The centennial book looks much nicer to me.

It's been a while since I've seen the prints, so I don't remember well. I have also never seen a copy of the 1938 book. So my question is, are indeed the reproduction in the John Muir Trail book faithful to the original edition ? To the prints ? If that's the case how about the difference between this book and the centennial book ?

On a side note, I was struck by how much the cover image looked better on the grey cloth-covered cover, than inside the book, on the white page.

[Michael Gordon]

QT: I cannot speak to the faithfulness issue, but I found the printing/repro quality of the 2006 JMT book disappointing. On the other hand, IMO the centennial book is downright beautiful.

The books have significantly different retail prices; this obviously affected their respective qualities.

[tgtaylor]

I saw the book but didn't purchase it because most, if not all, of the images are reproduced in other editions of his work and I too didn't like the reproduction quality.

I believe that Adams Banner Peak and Thousand Island Lake, Sierra Nevada, California, 1923 is the image that brought him and the Sierra Nevada to national attention. That image, and several others, is reproduced in Ansel Adams 400 Photographs, 2007 - which is a steal at the full cover price of $40.

Watch it! B&W can grow on you!

[adonis_abril]

Watch it! B&W can grow on you!

I saw the series but one that really caught my attention was a photographer - George Masa. Very little is know about this photographer and his works - but from what I've seen, they're remarkable.

[Bill_1856]

I saw the series but one that really caught my attention was a photographer - George Masa. Very little is know about this photographer and his works - but from what I've seen, they're remarkable.

I bought the DVD about Masa. It was interesting about the man, but photographically pretty dull, which came as a big surprise after all the hype.

[Drew Wiley]

Many of the photographs which were influential in the establishment of Kings Canyon
Park actually looked quite a bit different back then, whereas recent books often attempt to make everything of AA's look very stereotypically cold tone and crisp, which was not necessarily the case, relatively speaking. I'd call some of these earlier images more approachable, even when they have the almost theatrical subject matter and high contrast for which he is best known by the public. Some of
them weren't all that sharp either by modern standards. The famous Precipice Lake
shot is downright gritty, and was almost unprintable, being developed prior to the
Zone System, as I recall. I think that some of these earlier shots have a charm
and naivette missing from his later work. The Kings Canyon work included both
shots of this nature, and ones as he was transitioning into his more classical phase.
The remoter parts of what became this park were apparently never visited by Ansel;
but we should be extremely grateful for his significant contribution is having it
given federal protection. Unfortunately, I won't be going up there anytime real soon,
because it's snowing at the higher elevations virtually all this week!

[Drew Wiley]

Guess I didn't finish my thought, but again, by the standards of the times, the book
might have been considered a "faithful reproduction" of the original prints, but back
then AA had to make prints differently just for mechanical reproduction purposes.
Today you could high-end scan actual fine prints and make far better reproductions.
I really liked the Ken Burns series, in fact I like all his documentaries; but this afternoon I wasted a little time drooling over some climber's shots of the Black Divide, Ladder Lk, and Enchanted Gorge country. Wonder if I'll ever be able to do
much in that rugged trailess area again. I can still handle steep grades with a heavy
pack, but can't cover anywhere near enough miles in a day. Fortunately, the stupid
bear barrel rule in the park seems to have been repealed, except in a few critical
areas; but now Quickload holders are disappearing, so the weight goes back up
again. I'd go to MF only as a last resort. Figure I'll just have to locate some young
sucker to carry my filmholders some day. Up there is no country for cheap lightwt
tents either - I carry a Bibler. Almost no trees in the heart of Kings Canyon Park,
in utter contrast to the utterly hot canyon bottoms. I can hardly wait, but then,
neither can the mosquitoes!

[tgtaylor]

Although an otherwise compelling and historically interesting photographer, George Masa was Great Smoky Mountains photographer and did not photograph in the Sierra Nevada. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Masa

With respect to early Adams images, it should be recognized that both his technical ability and advancements in film technology made great progress in the years ensuing his landmark Banner Peak image and those made in the '30's. Nevertheless his Banner Peak image still holds its own today and the landform itself is recognized as a "crown jewel" of the Sierra Nevada.

Considering a 130 to 140% above normal snow pack for this year makes for an excellent time to photograph Banner/Ritter Peak for Thousand Island Lake. I'm going to try just as soon as I can get out there without snow shoes.

[Drew Wiley]

Good luck, Tim! Unfortunately, my old boots have started leaking at the seams - I'm
putting roof goo on them! And my new boots aren't broken in yet. Apparently the
hard-sided bear barrel nonsense has been revoked in the Mammoth area, provided
you have something bear-resistant. I carry an Ursack. Only Yosemite is still under
the heavy container rules. I'd like to get up to Iron Lake from the west side - it still
appears to have a healthy cirque glacier, and all the west side of the Ritter Range has a lot of solitude compared to the Mammoth side. I grew up with a view of Ritter
and Banner from the west, so maybe I'm biased.

[Preston]

You guys talking about Banner Peak is making me homesick! I've spent a lot of time in that country, and it's one of my many favorite Sierra haunts. I will say the that view from the top of Banner Peak, down that east face and then over to Ritter and the Minarets is one of the all-time greats!

I remember looking at some repros of Ansel's work in some old sixties issues of the Sierra Club Bulliten. I found them to be very inspirong, not as a photographer, but as a climber/wilderness person.

I think many of us who hung around the Sierra in those days were very strongly influenced by Ansel's work and the writings of folks like David Brower and Norman Clyde.

--P

[Drew Wiley]

I know what you mean, Preston; but I have a minor grudge against Norman Clyde.
When I was 18 I had my heart set upon a particularly impressive granite spire along
the Silver Divide which was allegedly unclimbed. After freeclimbing the thing and
almost pissing my pants, I finally attained the quite airy summit - but oops, there
was a salmon-egg jar with Norman Clyde's name in it from 1947! That guy could
sure get around!

[tgtaylor]

http://fotop.net/golfer/Master_Photographers/Banner_Peak_and_Thousand_Island_Lake_1923

Don't install the Chineese characters but click on the image at the top.

[Drew Wiley]

That shot of Banner Pk was from AA's very early set of Parmelian Prints which he
showed to Stieglitz and if I recall correctly, comprised one of the images in his first
official portfolio. It exemplifies what I noted earlier, and is a relatively warm-colored
inviting little print, still loved by many today. I haven't been there for a few years,
but the last time I was I left the trail to cross-country a couple days, and scuffed up
an attractive obsidian spearhead near the point I left the trail. That whole side of the
Ritter Range is famous and inviting, while the backside is a lot rougher and more
lonely, with a whole different kind of appeal. I can never get enough of that whole area.

[tgtaylor]

On my way this afternoon to pick up some vitamins at Country Sun in Palo Alto and armed with a hefty discount coupon, I stopped in the Sunnyvale Borders and bought a shrink wrapped copy of Adams' book. I was glad I did.

First, I was surprised to learn that it was Norman Clyde who discovered the body of Peter Starr back in 1933 and not Jules Eichorn whom hitherto I always thought did. In fact, before today I would have bet money that it was Jules and not Norman - and I'm not the betting type.

Secondly, I found the reproductions quite satisfactory - better than I had remembered them to be. This may be due to the fact that I had last saw them in a library book which may have been an inexpensive reproduction of the original 1938 publicatio of which only 500 copies were printed. Although the images were not as "sharp" as could be, it must be remembered that they were taken in the 1920's and '30's with optics, film emulsions, and printing technology all making dramatic improvements in the ensuing decades. Moreover, there was no mention in the foreword or introduction that the current printing wasn't merely a reprinting, albeit using modern printing technology, of the original printing plates of the first edition. Yes, the photo of Mount Clarence King reproduced on the cover is much better than what is reproduced in the interior, but then again Banner Peak and Thousand Island Lake is much better than that which appears on the web.

Can it be “redone” in a manner that is both technically and aesthetically pleasing? Yes! Should it be redone? Again, yes! The Sierra Nevada is one of the crown jewels of North American continent and eminently worthy of a long term project by a committed and talented photographer.

Thomas

[Drew Wiley]

Thomas, the set of Minarets which lies just west of the main ridge was seldom visited. It vaguely seems to me that it is somewhere along the dangerous col inbetween where Walt Starr fell. Another portion seldom climbed is the secondary
but magnificent set of pinnacles above Deadhorse Lk. I was having a wonderful day there one Oct when an Otter plane kept buzzing over and over the ridge, apparently with an aerial photographer as the client. How I longed for a surface-to-air missle at that point in time!

[Drew Wiley]

Ansel took a famous lengthwise shot of the Minarets by climbing opposite, up above
Iceberg Lake onto the big volcanic knob. Clyde Minaret is visible at the edge, but not
from its classic front view. Norman Clyde himself has the unique distinction of having three magnificent Sierra peaks named for him. Besides Clyde Minaret (the
most spectacular of them all), there is Norman Clyde Peak along the 14000 ft Palisade range, and the stunning Clyde Spires behind Picture Peak in middle Sabrina
basin. I was so absorbed photographing the latter spires two years ago that I had
totally forgotten to eat for a day and then became dizzy. I sat down on a rock and worried what had gone wrong with me, but then everything was fine after I ate a
candy bar. The peak named for AA is in a seldom-traveled section of the upper Merced opposite Mt Lyell, and his own foreboding shot of the dark peak looming
above the chiarascuro lighting of the barely-treed basin below is one of the great
classics of Sierra photography. He gives an interesting account of climbing it in his
autobiography using a potentially fatal section of sash-cord. An utterly naive climber,
just as I was.

[Preston]

There is a very detailed account of the search for Walter Starr Jr., written by Norman Clyde, in a book titledNorman Clyde of the Sierra Nevada-Rambles Through the Range of Light-29 Essays by Norman Clyde. Scrimshaw Press, San Francisco. 1971. ISBN:0-912020-19-9.

This is a wonderful book, with a forward by Francis Farquhar and a letter written by Smoke Blanchard. It also includes some interesting photos taken by Norman. It should be essential reading for any Sierra bum.

--P

[rdenney]

I think it was in the 60's that books of Adams's photos started being printed in duotone using inks of good glossiness on coated paper. My 1950 first edition of "My Camera in the National Parks" was printing in black ink only on Kromekote, which looks to me as though the paper was varnished after printing, as was the case with my early printing of Eliot Porter's "In Wildness...".

I recall seeing an original edition of Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras at a museum in San Antonio some years ago. I don't recall if that edition bound photographic prints in with the text, but my dim memory is coming up with relatively matte surfaces and no over-varnish or coating. The photos in that edition lacked the dynamic range of his glossy prints and later reproductions.

I think it's safe to say that Adams was keenly interested in achieving the best possible reproduction quality available in the day, but the technology of reproducing photographs surely saw huge improvements in the period between the 30's and the 70's. Since that time, several books of Adams's photos have been made from the copy negatives he supplied to the government as fulfillment of his national parks contract, and the quality of those can't touch the later duotone editions. They can't even touch those 1950 Kromekote reproductions.

How was the later edition reproduced? Did they re-engrave the plates? (This should be noted on the masthead if they did.) If so, what was the source? Adams, as I recall, made prints especially tweaked for reproduction, at least for his later works. Or (dim memory again) he had one of his assistants do so. Is Alan Ross now making prints for reproduction, from the original negatives? Are they scanning the original negatives, and then correcting them in the computer, for the latest books?

Rick "noting the not-so-good reproductions in the original Basic Photo series" Denney

[Drew Wiley]

Thanks for that tip, Preston. I'll have to search for that account. It fairly amazes me
how prolific some of those mountaineers were. I'm even more impressed how some of the early surveyors got atop places like Wheel Mtn, or how palaeo-Indians would leave atlatl points up on class 3 passes, probably shot at a bighorn sheep or something thousands of years before "modern" Indians with their bows and arrows, who generally stuck to the direct routes to current passes over the Sierra. I tried living off the land
in the high Sierra a number of times and was reasonably successful, but in desperation once resorted to eating wild onions and had a hell of a stomach ache that night. The
Indians of course had their own kind of infrastructure and caches for travel. But some
of the tales of John Muir and Clarence King are patently embellished for literary effect.

[Bill_1856]

After an initial cursory and disappointing look through this much-hyped book (when I bought it last year), I've had another, deeper viewing. I've decided that many of the pictures might be superb, but printed so small (4x5 to 5x7) that they resemble nice B&W picture postcards more than great iconic Ansel Adams images.
There is a larger version of the book available for $1200 (I think it was the size of the original). I wonder if the reproductions are printed any bigger?

[ROL]

On a side note, I was struck by how much the cover image looked better on the grey cloth-covered cover, than inside the book, on the white page.

Not an unimportant note, as it turns out. AA makes mention (in his autobiography?) of a SF exhibition in which his prints were placed on distressingly pale green walls. He was astonished to find, after all, that the prints looked so much better than on normal gallery white. I took another look at my rarely viewed 2006 copy and must agree that the cover pic does look better to my eye – warmer – than the on the page. And I am only partial to warmer tones for certain prints. Presentation counts for a lot.

[ROL]

Watch it! B&W can grow on you!

In me, on me, through me.

[ROL]

Considering a 130 to 140% above normal snow pack for this year makes for an excellent time to photograph Banner/Ritter Peak for Thousand Island Lake. I'm going to try just as soon as I can get out there without snow shoes.

June 2002:


Banner Peak and Suncups, 1000 Island Lake
http://www.rangeoflightphotography.com/albums/Ansel-Adams-Wilderness/Banner%20Peak%20and%20Suncups%2C%201000%20Island%20Lake.jpg

[ROL]

You guys talking about Banner Peak is making me homesick! I've spent a lot of time in that country, and it's one of my many favorite Sierra haunts. I will say the that view from the top of Banner Peak, down that east face and then over to Ritter and the Minarets is one of the all-time greats!

I remember looking at some repros of Ansel's work in some old sixties issues of the Sierra Club Bulliten. I found them to be very inspirong, not as a photographer, but as a climber/wilderness person.

I think many of us who hung around the Sierra in those days were very strongly influenced by Ansel's work and the writings of folks like David Brower and Norman Clyde.

--P

Brother from another mother? Ditto.

[ROL]

'Nuff from me.