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Examples : The Making of 40 Photographs
Adams goes further than the very detailed
technical explanations about each image, that we come to expect from him.
He give personnal insights into his
vision and personal feelings. Besides being a remarkable instructional
book, it is also an engaging chronicle of his journey as a photographer.
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The Portfolios of Ansel Adams
There are many books of images of AA, but this one has to be my
favorite, because it reproduces his images by Portfolios, which were
the main method he had his original prints circulated. Although they
are dominated by
grand landscapes, this book also comprises a larger
range of subjects than this other monographs.
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Ansel Adams at 100, by John Szarkowski
Published in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Ansel Adams, this
book is superbly produced, printed on tritone, large enough to
reproduce the images at the same size as the original vintage
prints with plenty of space. The earlier prints were quite small.
Unlike the previous book, this one concentrates exclusively on
landscape and nature close-ups photography (with the exception of one
photograph of New York and two of native americans). However, within this
limited scope, Ansel Adams fans will discover new images.
First, there was an effort to select seldom seen photographs. Some well known
photographs are placed in the context of a sequence, for example the
Yosemite valley views, or the Old Faithful geyser,
but the emphasis of the book is definitively
not on them. Second, Szarkowski often selected earlier
prints where Adams used softer renditions than in his later (more well
known) prints. This is illustrated by two examples of variations in
printing of Aspens and Denali. The essay is interesting, although
controversial (see a dissenting opinion by Kenneth Brower on
The Atlantic Monthly site).
The book, in my opinion, is more a revisitation of Adams landscape work, than a definitive
reference book.
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Wynn Bullock : The Enchanted
Landscape Photographs 1940-1975
While AA's photography is often litteral,
Bullock's photos have a powerful metaphorical meaning. They
reveal the extraordinary behind the surface of things.
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Edward Weston: The Last Years in Carmel
While Weston is better known for his treatment of form and shape in
still lifes and nude work
(see Edward
Weston : 1886-1958 for a good compilation of his work),
an exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago
emphasizes a different and lesser known area of his work, one that he
evolved during his last creative years. While the book has a number of
excellent family portraits and nudes, in my opinion, it is the
landscapes of Point Lobos which stand out. In these images,
Weston draws a dark and moody portrait of the coast.
See also this
QA
Forum thread.
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Listen to the Trees
John Sexton continues AA's tradition of superbly crafted
images, and the fact that the book is about a single subject allows
him to show his technical mastery through a range of
different images. Unlike AA, John Sexton focusses on
intimate
portraits of nature.
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Summit: Vittorio Sella : Mountaineer
and Photographer : The Years
1879-1909
Working with large glass negatives, one century ago, Sella
produced B&W images that many still consider to be the
pinnacle of mountain photography. This book shows that even without
modern mountaineeing or photographic equipment, one can produce great
images in the wilderness.
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Bradford Washburn: Mountain
Photography
Washburn used an aerial 8x10 camera to photograph Alaska
mountains in images which reveal the beauty of natural
landforms.
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