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John Sexton
18-Sep-2012, 03:41
I am pleased to let fellow Large Format Forum members know about a new book about my friend, mentor, and former employer - Ansel Adams. The book is by my long time friend, and former colleague at Ansel's, Andrea Stillman. What makes this new book, "Looking at Ansel Adams: The Photographs and the Man," unlike any previous publications about Ansel are the wonderful stories that Andrea weaves around his photographs. Andrea has an encyclopedic knowledge of Ansel's photographs and his life. I may be a bit biased - having contributed in a small way to the project as the technical consultant. :)

The "official" publication date is Sept. 25, but the book can be preordered at a discounted price from Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316217808/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0316217808&linkCode=as2&tag=johnsextonp0f-20).

If you are interested in Ansel's work I believe you will enjoy this book.

I can also give you an advance "heads up" that a brand new app - of the same title - is about to launch. The app, which is for Apple iPads and iPhones, is designed as a companion to the book.

If you would like to learn more about the book and the app, check out my latest eNewsletter here (http://www.johnsexton.com/newsletter09-2012.html):

If you are interested please feel free to join my eNewsletter list. I only send out 5 to 10 announcements a year, and never share contact information with anyone. There is a link to the archive of my past eNewsletters on the newsletter listed above, along with a subscription link.

Cheers!

welly
18-Sep-2012, 03:58
Thanks for the heads up John, will be waiting on the 19th for the app to appear on the app store!

Cheers

Mark Woods
18-Sep-2012, 09:40
Hello John, good to hear about the projects. I'll definitely be looking for the book.

Robert Brummitt
18-Sep-2012, 10:16
Thanks for the heads up. Question, will the book come in electronic form? If it has an app companion, an e-reader book would be a natural.
Thanks again John!

dave_whatever
20-Sep-2012, 10:17
I've just installed the app on an ipad2 - looks great and although the free version is understandably light on content its worth getting. I may even part with some cash for the full version. Well done to all involved.

mdm
20-Sep-2012, 20:00
I recently looked at the Ansel Adams at 100 book and was thouroughly impressed. It is funny how a photographer is mostly known for a few prints but those famous pictures are not really representative of the photographers broader work at all.

Merg Ross
20-Sep-2012, 22:39
I recently looked at the Ansel Adams at 100 book and was thouroughly impressed. It is funny how a photographer is mostly known for a few prints but those famous pictures are not really representative of the photographers broader work at all.

This is true, not only for Ansel, but also for other famous photographers as well. I have often thought that an excellent representation of Ansel's work is within his seven Portfolios, published between 1948 and 1976. They are not chronological, his last Portfolio in 1976 including an image from 1932. In total, there are only ninety images, (John correct me), a sufficient number to define Ansel's best work, with the exclusion of several iconic images.

Not to be overlooked, of course,are the wonderful qualities of the man himself; for me, those will always define Ansel, along with his relentless promotion of photography as a fine art. Regardless of personal appraisals of his work, those of us who have followed in his tradition, owe much to Ansel.

ROL
21-Sep-2012, 09:20
This is true, not only for Ansel, but also for other famous photographers as well. I have often thought that an excellent representation of Ansel's work is within his seven Portfolios, published between 1948 and 1976. They are not chronological, his last Portfolio in 1976 including an image from 1932. In total, there are only ninety images, (John correct me), a sufficient number to define Ansel's best work, with the exclusion of several iconic images.

Not to be overlooked, of course,are the wonderful qualities of the man himself; for me, those will always define Ansel, along with his relentless promotion of photography as a fine art. Regardless of personal appraisals of his work, those of us who have followed in his tradition, owe much to Ansel.

+1. Santa's bringing me the book this year.

Captain_joe6
21-Sep-2012, 09:49
John, can you speak at all to the printed quality of the images in the book? How do they compare to the clothbound edition of Ansel Adams at 100, or the masterfully-printed Edward Weston's Book of Nudes? Granted nothing will ever match the original prints, would you say these are fairly close replications, or really just examples of content?

jack_hui
22-Sep-2012, 08:02
Oh ... just checked the itunes, i cant download it as I am registered in Asia .... any method???

Curt
22-Sep-2012, 08:44
I downloaded the app and upgraded to the full version. It's very fine and I await the book. Thanks John for bringing this to our attention.

Mark Woods
22-Sep-2012, 09:21
I just downloaded the app and it's really well done and enjoyable.

Andrew O'Neill
22-Sep-2012, 09:56
Thank you John. I first heard about this through your newsletter. Ansel's set of books (the camera, the neg, the print) is what really got me into photography, and I have a collection of other books by him and others about him. Will you ever come back to Vancouver, BC?

Jim Noel
22-Sep-2012, 10:22
I did not see a reference to a copy of the App, other than the free one. Where did you see that?
Jim

Robert Brummitt
22-Sep-2012, 11:48
I did not see a reference to a copy of the App, other than the free one. Where did you see that?
Jim

If you open the free app. You'll see buy app or extended app.
It's for $2.99.
You get more photos and other goodies.
That's how I found it.

Robert Brummitt
22-Sep-2012, 11:52
I was looking at the app. Did Ansel ever use a Deardorff 8x10?
Also is there sound in the movies? Or in any part of the App? If so, mine has gone silent.

Captain_joe6
22-Sep-2012, 22:15
Don't forget to flip the silent/not silent switch! ;)

Pfiltz
23-Sep-2012, 05:56
I bought the app last night. Can't wait to watch it on Vacation.

Payral
23-Sep-2012, 08:25
There is a funny thing on Amazon.com. Book is not yet available (I already ordered mine) but several used ones are listed even more expensive than the new one :)

Pfiltz
23-Sep-2012, 10:36
I couldn't wait. I've started to watch the app.

Just too freak'n cool....

andreios
23-Sep-2012, 10:57
Has anyone worked out how to buy the app from other than US store yet? Thanks!

Jim Noel
23-Sep-2012, 11:59
John,
Thanks for the heads up on the book and the app. I have ordered the book after downloading first the free, and then the cheap upgrade of the app. What a great idea this is to have a good app at low cost to accompany a book about photography or a photographer.

Jim

dave_whatever
23-Sep-2012, 12:11
I managed it from the UK alright. Just followed the steps in-app.

Bill_1856
23-Sep-2012, 13:29
What's an"app?" Something to do with lens aperture? How does that apply to a book?

Darin Boville
23-Sep-2012, 13:40
Isn't it odd that so many of the Ansel Adams books since his death--at least the ones that the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust cooperated with--have, as an author, one of the members of the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust?

--Darin

Sal Santamaura
23-Sep-2012, 17:55
Isn't it odd that so many of the Ansel Adams books since his death--at least the ones that the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust cooperated with--have, as an author, one of the members of the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust?...No, not odd at all. Why do you ask? :)

Pfiltz
23-Sep-2012, 18:54
What's an"app?" Something to do with lens aperture? How does that apply to a book?

App = short for an application for a smart phone or tablet.

Darin Boville
23-Sep-2012, 22:37
No, not odd at all. Why do you ask? :)

Well, to spell out the obvious, if she acts as a "gatekeeper" in her role on the board of the Ansel Adams Publishing Trust, deciding which authors get to publish Adams' images in their books and then she and the other board members basically exclude most other authors and choose themselves as book authors (sort of reminds me of Cheney!) then that seems a little odd. Especially when you consider that they are probably getting paid as authors, in addition to their role in the trust. It looks like a conflict of interest.

In any event, the new book looks at twenty of Ansel's photos and gives the background on them. Lots of familiar ground here. Think of it as *Examples* sort of merged with *Letters.* There are numerous other photos, though, of similar scenes and snapshots taken at the same time to flesh things out a little.

It looks o.k. but there is tremendous overlap with *Examples*--the book focuses on twenty images in twenty chapters--sixteen of those are the same images as in *Examples.*

Here are the overlapping images, with Stillman's chapter number, the image title, then the Examples page number in parentheses.

Chap 1. Lodgepole Pines (48)
Chap 3. Monolith (3)
Chap 4. Saint Francis Church (90)
Chap 5. Still Life (eggs, 112)
Chap 6. Frozen Lake and Cliffs (10)
Chap 8. Georgia O'Keefe and Orville Cox (152)
Chap 9. Clearing Winter Storm (102)
Chap 10. Moonrise (40)
Chap 11. Winter Sunrise (162)
Chap 14. Mount Williamson (Manzanar, 65)
Chap 15. Ed Weston (Eucalyptus tree 144)
Chap 16. Mount McKinley and Wonder Lake (74)
Chap 17. Sand Dune (148)
Chap 18. Aspens (60)
Chap 19. Moon and Half Dome (132)
Chap 20. El Capitan (winter 44)

As you can see, the degree of overlap is sort of shocking (the four images that don't overlap are also commonly known Ansel images). The writing looks to be all very pop-bio, myth-making sort of stuff. Is Ansel reduced to nothing more than toothpaste, a brand to be polished every few years?

Stillman's book will no doubt be a big seller--a new *Examples, one of the best-selling Ansel books of all time.

--Darin

Kodachrome25
23-Sep-2012, 23:50
I like the app, but it needs to rotate to vertical on the iPad or iPhone to make it easier to look at vertical images. It should also include the entire film "Ansel Adams, Photographer", not just a snippet. But overall, I like it, fun stuff!

john borrelli
24-Sep-2012, 02:50
I just went to an Ansel Adams exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum here in Massachusetts. I was mesmerized by the print of "Clearing Winter Storm". I believe the exhibit ends the first week of October. I was surprised how early in the twentieth century that Adams began his career. Perhaps I should add that I have no connection to the Museum.

Sal Santamaura
24-Sep-2012, 08:10
No, not odd at all. Why do you ask? :)


Well, to spell out the obvious, if she acts as a "gatekeeper" in her role on the board of the Ansel Adams Publishing Trust, deciding which authors get to publish Adams' images in their books and then she and the other board members basically exclude most other authors and choose themselves as book authors (sort of reminds me of Cheney!) then that seems a little odd. Especially when you consider that they are probably getting paid as authors, in addition to their role in the trust. It looks like a conflict of interest...Guess I should have used the sarcastic emoticon :rolleyes: instead of a plain smiley, since you underscore my point. In this era, what you've spelled out is not at all odd; it's typical behavior by those in control.


...the new book looks at twenty of Ansel's photos and gives the background on them. Lots of familiar ground here. Think of it as *Examples* sort of merged with *Letters.*...the degree of overlap is sort of shocking...The writing looks to be all very pop-bio, myth-making sort of stuff. Is Ansel reduced to nothing more than toothpaste, a brand to be polished every few years?...Stillman's book will no doubt be a big seller--a new *Examples, one of the best-selling Ansel books of all time...You seem disturbed by the point of the trust. It exists to sell stuff and make money. As long as people continue to be fascinated by Adams and buy books, etc. related to him, the trust will keep churning them out. Even if the public ignores contemporary photographers you might prefer receive the benefit of those purchase dollars instead.

Note that a lot more toothpaste is sold than is "art." :D

Michael Jones
24-Sep-2012, 13:38
I’m confused by Darin & Sal’s exchange.

Where is it found that Ms. Stillman is a member of the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust? I looked at her biography and if I had that membership, I’d list it in my biography. http://andreastillman.ipower.com\ It appears she works for the Trust. The only trustee of whom I am aware is managing trustee William Turnage. I'm sure there are others.

A trust is a property right which is held in a fiduciary relationship by one party for the benefit of another. The trustee is the one who holds title to the trust property, and the beneficiary is the person who receives the benefits of the trust. Many trusts are created as an alternative to or in conjunction with a will and other elements of estate planning. Generally, the object of a trust is protect, enhance, manage, and grow the estate for the benefit of beneficiary.

Without having the benefit of the Ansel Adams Publish Rights Trust documents, the general rule is be that such a conflict of interest, otherwise known as self-dealing, is not permitted. However, on the other hand, the long-standing relationship between Ms. Stillman, Mr. Turnage, and Ansel Adams may be carried over into the trust documents and specify that only the trustees may publish such works. Finally, the only people who can complain are the beneficiary and, perhaps, the state where the trust was created.

On the other hand, I see the Trust has selected Greenlight, LLC to represent Ansel Adams' personality rights and fine art copyrights for commercial usage, including advertising. and merchandising. http://corporate.corbis.com/news/press-releases/2012/greenlight-to-represent-ansel-adams/

I don’t see the issue. How many Edward Weston tomes have the same photographs or Worhol mongraphs have the same lithos as their plates?

Mike

Sal Santamaura
24-Sep-2012, 14:49
I’m confused...Where is it found that Ms. Stillman is a member of the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust? I looked at her biography and if I had that membership, I’d list it in my biography...It appears she works for the Trust. The only trustee of whom I am aware is managing trustee William Turnage. I'm sure there are others...the general rule is be that such a conflict of interest, otherwise known as self-dealing, is not permitted...I didn't research specifics of the AA Publishing Rights Trust. My response was made to sarcastically convey that, if a conflict of interest does exist, such prohibitions are commonly ignored today, in many areas of our society.


...I don’t see the issue. How many Edward Weston tomes have the same photographs or Worhol mongraphs have the same lithos as their plates?...I perceive many relatively unknown photographers/painters as being resentful of the commercial success those tomes/monographs achieve, while the public ignores "deserving" newcomers. That's the issue I think was raised. For the record, I don't agree that there's anything wrong with the situation.

Darin Boville
24-Sep-2012, 14:49
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

Darin Boville
24-Sep-2012, 14:56
I don’t see the issue. How many Edward Weston tomes have the same photographs or Worhol mongraphs have the same lithos as their plates?


Hey Mike,

Are you serious? It's not a question having the same images. The book purports to tell the story of twenty photographs by Ansel. Eighty percent of those photos just happened to be from a prior bestseller, which also tried to tell the story of each one of those images. There is tremendous overlap in both the images and the text, one published during Ansel's lifetime and one now Gee, I wonder what is going on here...

--Darin

ROL
24-Sep-2012, 16:19
I perceive many relatively unknown photographers/painters as being resentful of the commercial success those tomes/monographs achieve, while the public ignores "deserving" newcomers.

:).

Michael Jones
25-Sep-2012, 06:23
Where is the proof of these allegations the trustees are enriching themselves? That seems to be a dangerous allegation without more. Their job is to make money for the Trust from the Trust. I've never seen any commentary from the Adams heirs that the trustees are abusing their discretion.

The Trust owns the trademarks and copyrights of Adam’s body of work. The Trust's job is to make money for the beneficiaries

The impact on his body of work depends upon your definition of "suffering." IMHO, his reputation suffered more from the cheap book of his images that are in the public domain: "The Mural Project.

If you have access the Fred Picker's Newsletter from the mid-seventies, he recounts the same conversations happened when Ansel was alive and selling his images on MJB coffee cans and in Datsun commercials. Fred also recounts why publishers (and not just the Adams Trust) publish books the way they do.

Adams supported himself and his family with his commercial work. He chose a different life than Edward Weston. I’m not debating whose body of work has more significance, only that people and their motivations are different. Just like the public perception of their work. Outside of photographers, I seriously doubt Adams’ work has lost any significance (or sales).


Mike

Michael Jones
25-Sep-2012, 06:32
Hey Michael,

That's all sort of a distinction without a difference. . You're not a lawyer, by chance? :)


--Darin

That's my job: proper placement of commas...:cool:

Mike

PS: I enjoyed your pillow series; very simple, but creative. Like Weston.

Bill_1856
25-Sep-2012, 07:41
Estimated sales prices for AA's prints are significantly down for Sothby's October auction.

CP Goerz
25-Sep-2012, 08:45
Has anyone bought an Ansel Adams calendar in the last ten years? They recycle the images and pop them on different months every two/three years....seems they are doing the same with this new book.


Ansel shot THOUSANDS of negatives that are available to these folks but it appears their lack of imagination will ensure that we will keep seeing the same 20-30 shots forever through constant 'NEW' re-packaging...app be damned.

ROL
25-Sep-2012, 09:13
Has anyone bought an Ansel Adams calendar in the last ten years? They recycle the images and pop them on different months every two/three years....seems they are doing the same with this new book.


Ansel shot THOUSANDS of negatives that are available to these folks but it appears their lack of imagination will ensure that we will keep seeing the same 20-30 shots forever through constant 'NEW' re-packaging...app be damned.

I get a wall calendar for XMAS every year, for at least the last 30 years, at the post year bookstore sales. Yes, the images are recycled. Some unknown images are inexplicably included. Most years, I would personally judge no more than half of the images to be "good". Whoever puts the calendar together has a difficult job deciding which of the thousands of photographs will be included from an important 20th century photographer. Will only well, or reasonably well, known photographs be used, as undoubtedly expected by the masses, or will the calendar represent some other theme? A wall calendar is not a portfolio. I've even recycled old calendars in years when I was unable to afford/attain the new year's. I'm looking at September, above my sterile computer screen, as I write this drivel. For me, the calendar is part tradition, and part a tangible reminder of why I bother to make photographs at all. It is for the same approximate reasons that I bought the book and app – and certainly not because JS graces us duffers with his presence on this forum (and others) only long enough to announce another commercial opportunity.

Michael Jones
25-Sep-2012, 10:05
At home & at work, I still run the AA screen saver images I got in the 90s...
Seen 'em once, seen then thousand times.

Mike

RichardSperry
25-Sep-2012, 11:27
The Trust owns the trademarks and copyrights of Adam’s body of work.

That is pretty well sickening. And violates the intention of copyright in the first place.

All that seems left is money grubbing lawyer talk and maneuvering for position.


To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;


The only promotion going on is fattening leeches' and lawyers' bank accounts these days. I had intended to buy the book and the app. You would have to pull all my toenails out with pliers first, now.

Michael Jones
25-Sep-2012, 11:41
That is pretty well sickening. And violates the intention of copyright in the first place.

All that seems left is money grubbing lawyer talk and maneuvering for position.



Actually, AA had to set the Trust up for his heirs before he died... Its called estate planning. It's usually to ensure lower taxes are paid at death because the property is given away before death. Thus the estate is smaller than it would have been had it not been done.

Mike

RichardSperry
25-Sep-2012, 12:01
What is the limited time of the right in this case, Mike?

I think a reasonable person would agree that an author or artist would at the most need protection of their work during their lifetimes. They can't very well benefit from their art or its protection after they are dead(because they are dead).

Merg Ross
25-Sep-2012, 21:44
The first time that I exhibited with Ansel was in a group show at the San Francisco Museum of Art in 1954. His print of "Winter Sunrise" was included, a very large print mounted on Masonite in a black wooden frame. I have always liked the image, even through various incarnations, and have concluded that Ansel preached the negative as being the score, but expended greater time on the perfromance.

As to the commercial posting of this thread, Ansel would have loved it. He was a superlative promoter of Ansel Adams, and, as I mentioned earlier, we who pursue our passion in fine art photography, owe much to Ansel; plus, his friendship was special.

It is, however, somewhat unfortunate, but not unprecented, to see the betrayal by those that he trusted to preserve his original goals. As a case in point, the closure of the Ansel Adams Center in San Francisco in 2001. Attached, is a post of the closing, and having been close to the original formation of the FOP in Carmel, I can assure you that poor management was responsible for the closure of the AA Center. Had it continued, as Ansel envisioned, the photo community would have reaped greater benefit than from another tired book of his work.

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Ansel-Adams-Center-to-shut-its-doors-Nonprofit-2869042.php

Andrew O'Neill
25-Sep-2012, 21:51
Thank you, Mr. Ross. Interesting.

Darin Boville
25-Sep-2012, 22:58
You know the more you google the more fascinating this gets:

First, you have the bio of Ansel by Mary Street Alinder (this is the one to get (http://www.amazon.com/Ansel-Adams-Mary-Street-Alinder/dp/0805041168/ref=la_B001KI1HRQ_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348638689&sr=1-1)). Out of print but available used. There's a whole chapter on the Trust and related activities after Ansel's death.

In there she talks about the troubles with the Trust and Bill Turnage's relentless focus on money, while she pushed back trying to make sure the Trust (set up nearly ten years before Ansel died) paid attention to his legacy. She says once Ansel died Bill was set free...

...and here's what he and the other Trustees did soon after--Ansel photos in ads for B1b Bombers:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1828&dat=19861231&id=cz8dAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tqYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1145,7016138

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19861229&id=WrVdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zl0NAAAAIBAJ&pg=2308,5425252

http://books.google.com/books?id=nOcDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT19&lpg=PT19&dq=rockwell+international+ansel+adams&source=bl&ots=GRmd9rjkkd&sig=Nmfnl71Q4CtlqcvujcyPf560b6A&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uZZiUJi3BsSSiALnz4DoDw&ved=0CDQQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=rockwell%20international%20ansel%20adams&f=false

Oh, my! Strangely, I can't find any images on Google of any of the three ads. Great quotes in the articles I linked to...how Ansel would have approved, etc. They can rationalize anything, it seems.

--Darin

Michael_4514
26-Sep-2012, 05:58
. . . The Trust's job is to make money for the beneficiaries . . .

If I may correct you, the trustee's job is defined by the trust documents, which apparently none of us have seen.

I do agree with you that there is nothing suspicious on its face about the copyright arrangements, although I find it not a little tawdry to keep republishing the same content and promoting it as new. Perhaps the heirs should get their own life instead of milking a past one for every cent that can be squeezed out of it.

Michael_4514
26-Sep-2012, 06:12
That is pretty well sickening. And violates the intention of copyright in the first place.

All that seems left is money grubbing lawyer talk and maneuvering for position.


To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;


The only promotion going on is fattening leeches' and lawyers' bank accounts these days. I had intended to buy the book and the app. You would have to pull all my toenails out with pliers first, now.

If you're interested in this subject, there's a very good book by Lawrence Lessig called "Free Culture" that explains how big business has manipulated congress into granting virtually unlimited copyright protection. Think Mickey Mouse. A challenge to Congress's latest extension of copyright protection was recently rejected by the supreme court. Not surprising given the makeup of the court.

Funny how lawyers always get blamed for the greed of their clients. Now, when can we start that project with the pliers and toenails?

RichardSperry
26-Sep-2012, 08:07
In one of the video(film) interviews of Adams, he states that he has and will set up a library of his negatives in which photographers would be able to make prints from them, after his death.

Where is this library now?

Have any of you photographers been allowed access to it?

Can you post scans of your prints made from these negatives?

I will post the video if none of you have seen it, or know what I mean.

Darin Boville
26-Sep-2012, 08:21
In one of the video(film) interviews of Adams, he states that he has and will set up a library of his negatives in which photographers would be able to make prints from them, after his death.

Where is this library now?

Have any of you photographers been allowed access to it?

Can you post scans of your prints made from these negatives?

I will post the video if none of you have seen it, or know what I mean.

I believe this is the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson. It appears that 10% of the Ansel Adams Publishing Trust revenues (profits?) are is obligated to go to the CCP--though that doesn't seem to have stopped Bill Turnage from threatening the CCP that he'll pull the plug if he doesn't get his way!

--Darin

Merg Ross
26-Sep-2012, 08:34
In one of the video(film) interviews of Adams, he states that he has and will set up a library of his negatives in which photographers would be able to make prints from them, after his death.

Where is this library now?

Have any of you photographers been allowed access to it?

Can you post scans of your prints made from these negatives?

I will post the video if none of you have seen it, or know what I mean.

This link should lead you to the answer:

http://ccp.uair.arizona.edu/

Michael Alpert
26-Sep-2012, 09:29
I am not going to buy this book. But I would like to thank John Sexton for his laughably self-serving post. It has led to a good discussion that separates Ansel Adams, the generous man and fine artist, from the Ansel Adams Industry, which packages Adams as a Brand Name. More "wonderful stories" ("woven" about Adam's "iconic" images) diminish Adams, if only because these stories go nowhere. What is needed is the same kind of serious critical writing that important artists in other fields, like painting and sculpture, receive. This is where the gate-keepers of Adams's estate have failed to guide his legacy correctly.

RichardSperry
26-Sep-2012, 16:23
This link should lead you to the answer:

http://ccp.uair.arizona.edu/

Thank you for the link, Merg.

I have sent them an email regarding the second, more important, question. I am looking forward to receiving an email from them.

John, you are an accomplished photographer. Have you had access to the Adams' negatives to print from?

Brian Ellis
26-Sep-2012, 19:53
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

From what little I know of the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust you're pretty much right on. The Trust apparently has taken the position that it will authorize use of Adams' photographs only for books that the Trust itself controls, a position that supposedly inhibited serious Adams scholarship since serious scholars wouldn't want to devote major research to an Adams book that can't include Adams' photographs, nor would they wish to turn control of their work over to the Trust.

There are some Adams photographs that the Trust acknowledges have passed into the public domain and anyone is free to use those. However, I don't know which ones they are or how many. But that's of little help when it comes to serious scholarship. Who wants to devote time and effort to a serious Adams book if they can only reproduce photographs that presumably have been reasearched and analyzed over and over again by others?

With respect to enriching themselves (i.e. the trustees), I don't know about that. I'm not aware that any of the trustees have themselves written or edited any Adams books and income generated by the Trust is paid to the Ansel Adams Family Trust. However, the Trustees may very well be paying themselves hefty salaries and other benefits.According to Mary Alinder's biography of Adams, there originally were four trustees of the Publishing Rights Trust - Adams, Bill Turnage, Dave Vena, and Arthur Thornhill, Jr., the president of Little Brown. Thornhill later resigned and was replaced by John Schaefer. Adams of course is dead. Turnage is the managing director or some such title and is still around. I don't know about the others.

The Alinder book contains a fairly detailed and extensive indictment of the way the Trust has handled its responsibilities. If you believe her its been something of a disgrace though she did have some run-ins with the Trust so she's not exactly an objective observer.

CP Goerz
26-Sep-2012, 21:19
Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling/and Trustees are paying themselves hefty salaries and other benefits is going on in here!
[a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
Captain Renault: [sotto voce] Oh, thank you very much.
[aloud]
Captain Renault: Everybody out at once!

Darin Boville
27-Sep-2012, 11:00
Book just arrived via FedEx. First impression: It's a very good-looking book. Cover is matte white with a high gloss photo--makes it look like a real photo on the front and back cover. Eye-catching. Photos inside look good. Hate the san serif font for the main body text--don't know why people like that sort of thing. Read the first half on the Monolith chapter--nothing new. Sort of looks like a compilation of published info rather than any original research. At least so far. Might explain though why there is 80% overlap with *Examples*--it is one of the primary sources cited! Looks like just the thing for the Christmas season. :)

--Darin

Robert Brummitt
27-Sep-2012, 11:16
Looks like just the thing for the Christmas season. :)

--Darin[/QUOTE]

BINGO!

This will be a nice gift for my family can get me. None of the usual Socks and Under ware stuff.
A nice AA book to look at.
I still think a e-book version would be better. This way I can carry it with me always.

I'm waiting for someone to slap their head and say,"Of course, why not!"

Doug Howk
29-Sep-2012, 17:04
Have read a few of the chapters so far; and it does go over alot of old ground. And Ansel does come off as a saint; but, so what, he was at least compared to the self-promoting photographers with no real talent who are so prevalent today. Does seem like the author has at least compiled some original research gleaned from the Adams archives (caveat, the Weston chapter needs a good editor - a jumble of quotes ). Overall, an enjoyable read.

AuditorOne
29-Sep-2012, 18:45
My copy arrived yesterday and I am already half way through the book. So far I have found this to be a very enjoyable read. There is certainly a lot of familiar information but a lot of it I did not know. I personally think it was very well done.

RichardSperry
30-Sep-2012, 10:30
Ordered and received "Examples".

Skimming through it, very good buy.

CP Goerz
2-Oct-2012, 11:22
About the only 'human' thing I can ever recall about Ansel is when he had an affair and subsequently a nervous breakdown for which he was hospitalized. Many later accounts(including his own) claimed that he had been working too hard, the Saint Ansel machine was up and running. Scant few 'biographies' have even touched upon it preferring to tell us what he ate for breakfast instead.

Darin Boville
2-Oct-2012, 13:49
To its credit the book *does* mention the affair in some detail. Nothing about the affair per se but three pages or so is spent on the difficulties it presented etc and a nice photo of Patsy.

--Darin

CP Goerz
2-Oct-2012, 15:27
I'm not sure of your meaning...it mentions the affair in detail but nothing about the affair per se?


I heard from an informed friend that there are all sorts of letters between Ansel and Virginia that would make better reading about the 'man' than anything written about/by him so far. Maybe they'll be released in about 50 years given this rate of expose'. I'm saying, a mention of an affair 'just' forty years after he dies.....whew!

Doug Howk
2-Oct-2012, 17:29
Chapter 7 of the book includes quotes from Ansel's letters to Patsy. Patsy's letters were apparently not preserved (maybe we should fabricate a conspiracy).

AuditorOne
2-Oct-2012, 22:05
Chapter 7 of the book includes quotes from Ansel's letters to Patsy. Patsy's letters were apparently not preserved (maybe we should fabricate a conspiracy).

Yeah. Real good chance they went up in smoke as soon as Virginia learned of them.

Darin Boville
2-Oct-2012, 23:30
Another odd bit: The chapter on the photo of O"Keefe and Cox. Here's an interesting comparison that captures many of the problems of the book and highlights the quality issues resulting from the Trust's control.

In *Examples* Ansel says that he saw the photograph and "The moment was *now.* If the camera was held level Cox's hat and O'Keefe's figure would be cut into; a side tilt was necessary. Kneeling, I lowered the position of the camera, bringing more of the figures against the sky. This was intuitively and swiftly managed, and I made only one exposure."

Stillman quotes Ansel and describes the scene: "Ansel made two exposures, both visible in the contact sheet. In the first, Cox's hat intersects with O'Keefe's face. 'I was standing precariously on a slating ledge and did not control the horizontal tilt of the camera,' he explained. For the second exposure he knelt down to avoid the overlap."

O.K., Stillman has something new here--that there are two version of this image. But she garbles it badly. The new book provides the contact sheet (a big plus for the book) and there it is, you can plainly see. Two images of Cox and O'Keefe. In the first he is leaning forward and the brim of his hat blocks part of O'Keefe's face. The second negative is the well-known image. But somehow Stillman has the impression that Ansel knelt down after the first exposure in order to avoid the hat brim. But the negatives clearly show that the camera position hasn't moved--the background clouds intersect O'Keefe at the same position on both images. It's just that Cox stood up straighter in the second image. Stillman must have read that Ansel knelt for the famous image, saw the earlier version with the brim issue, and incorrectly surmised that Ansel knelt to solve that problem. If so, that was a poor guess. Stillman--I assumed she is not a photographer--might have been fooled by the slight reframing of the image, downward.

Is Ansel's executive assistant really the right person to write all these Ansel books?

--Darin

Doug Howk
3-Oct-2012, 03:39
Darin, clouds may not be the best indicator of location. If you look at the background hill as well as O'Keefe's position in both images, it does appear to me that Ansel at least bent down slightly. But I'm not a photo sleuth.
As to who should have written this book, John Sexton does say that he was technical consultant for the book. So the things we photographers most care about should be technically correct. As to the rest, its very good light reading material.

Brian Ellis
3-Oct-2012, 06:25
About the only 'human' thing I can ever recall about Ansel is when he had an affair and subsequently a nervous breakdown for which he was hospitalized. Many later accounts(including his own) claimed that he had been working too hard, the Saint Ansel machine was up and running. Scant few 'biographies' have even touched upon it preferring to tell us what he ate for breakfast instead.

It's truly a shame that biographies of Adams deal primarily with his work and other aspects of his life and don't provide enough detail about a love affair to satisfy your prurient interests. How much more detail would you like than the information provided in Mary Alinder's biography? Time and date of meetings in motels? Photographs of Adams and Patsy in compromising positions perhaps?

If that "affair" is all you can recall about Adams as a "human" then you either have a very bad memory or you knew nothing about him in the first place.

CP Goerz
3-Oct-2012, 07:46
You miss my point, the 'life' of Ansel Adams isn't just about F stops and light fading off the crosses etc. We know those stories backwards and in assorted versions told/retold over the years(with Ansel adding to the various renditions as well). Any other artist with similar stature in any other field we have the privilege to have a 'complete' picture of the person warts and all. With Ansel however its been a whitewashed Disney-esque environmentally and politically correct idol that has been placed before us. And around the campfire we go with one more re-telling of all the old familiar tales for a mere $XX.


I use the 'affair' as a point to illustrate how something that was enough to throw an otherwise 'hale and hearty' guy in a hospital room for a couple of weeks. What passions and thoughts ran through his head? What of Virginia? What of Patsy? He has said that the best work he ever produced was in that time....do you think that just maybe there was a little more going on than him getting it on with another woman besides his wife? Why did HE think his best work was then? Is it of interest to you that a guy who have made countless thousands of images feels that his best work came from a period of immense inner turmoil/love/betrayal/passion/affection etc? If you just want to look at the images then there are countless books around to satisfy that need, maybe I'm a little tired of seeing/reading the same old stuff and finally need a little more about Ansel as a real human being.

Ed Bray
5-Oct-2012, 22:42
Bad news for me, I've just received an email from Amazon UK stating that the book is now on back order and they have no current delivery date. But gutted as I was expecting it this week.

Ed Bray
13-Oct-2012, 03:38
Happy Days, my copy arrived in the post a short while ago, I am very pleased with the quality of the Images and am enjoying the text read so far (already at page 36). Seems to me like a bargain at the price I paid. I have paid a lot more for less interesting and lower quality works in the past.

Brian Ellis
13-Oct-2012, 07:04
You miss my point, the 'life' of Ansel Adams isn't just about F stops and light fading off the crosses etc. We know those stories backwards and in assorted versions told/retold over the years(with Ansel adding to the various renditions as well). Any other artist with similar stature in any other field we have the privilege to have a 'complete' picture of the person warts and all. With Ansel however its been a whitewashed Disney-esque environmentally and politically correct idol that has been placed before us. And around the campfire we go with one more re-telling of all the old familiar tales for a mere $XX.


I use the 'affair' as a point to illustrate how something that was enough to throw an otherwise 'hale and hearty' guy in a hospital room for a couple of weeks. What passions and thoughts ran through his head? What of Virginia? What of Patsy? He has said that the best work he ever produced was in that time....do you think that just maybe there was a little more going on than him getting it on with another woman besides his wife? Why did HE think his best work was then? Is it of interest to you that a guy who have made countless thousands of images feels that his best work came from a period of immense inner turmoil/love/betrayal/passion/affection etc? If you just want to look at the images then there are countless books around to satisfy that need, maybe I'm a little tired of seeing/reading the same old stuff and finally need a little more about Ansel as a real human being.

I understood your point and since you chose the "affair" as the basis for making it I responded in kind.

I don't know how deeply you think any writer should delve into Adams' psyche. But there's a lot of information out there about Adams as a human being. If one did nothing but read Mary Alinder's book I think he or she would have a pretty good idea of Adams' character/personality (and of the "affair" since she devotes about 4-5 pages specifically to it) and there's certainly more available than that one (somewhat controversial) biography.

CP Goerz
13-Oct-2012, 07:15
I've read a lot of Ansel stuff, how he glossed over it in his autobiography and removed every letter from her in 'Letters' etc. I'm not aware of any other references to that incident and come to think of it I can't recall any doting father stories of his kids either. I guess we'll only have to speculate as to Ansel's inner feelings about any number of things.

Robert Brummitt
13-Oct-2012, 08:21
I received my copy of the book. I have read the Edward Weston chapter and it was fine. It's a nice book. I still think it would have be neat if the book came in an e-reader with more of the before and after of AA photographs. That's pretty cool showing the evolution of his work. Gets you a better understanding of how he worked. Almost better then reading his techniques books.
I have heard of Ansel's affair and I do think important to include but I also think his family have feelings about all this too. We should respect them as well.
Hey, I didn't know that Ansel almost moved to the Southwest instead of Carmel. Would have that changed how some think the Monterey and Carmel as the "Mekka" of photography?
That's a little gem for me.

Robert Brummitt
13-Oct-2012, 12:12
Hhhheeeeyyyy, I think we got dis!
By Alfre Stieglist no less.
Page 68 Ansel has written his how to photography book and this is what Alfred has to say.
"I must let you know what a great pleasure your book has given me. It's so Straight and Intelligent and heaven knows the world of photography isn't any too intelligent---nor Straight, either"
What?!!

ROL
13-Oct-2012, 16:23
"I must let you know what a great pleasure your book has given me. It's so Straight and Intelligent and heaven knows the world of photography isn't any too intelligent---nor Straight, either"
What?!!

:D. (It's humor)

What "What?!!"? I don't think he meant it in the sense that we have generally come to use "straight" these days. Prolly more like crooked, not on the up and up, less than integral. As for the intelligence part, I don't think much has changed in either pronouncement in a century of "evolution" (see any "gallery", "career", or "Peter Lik" thread::D – or anything I've posted for that matter ;))