Task 1 [Part 4] - Researching Famous Photographers (Ansel Adams)

Landscape photography (Ansel Adams)
Photographic Category:
Ansel Adams did landscape style photography, focusing on the conservation of the wilderness and nature in general. He also uses black-and-white when taking his landscape photographs. He used his photography to promote conservation of a particular park; 'Yosemite National Park'. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansel_Adams)

He used his idea of previsualization, which meant that he would have anticipated the finished photograph moments before actually taking the photograph. This concept is similar to the modern day form of storyboards in terms of planning. (www.anseladams.com/)

Purpose:
As aforementioned, the main reason Adams took these photographs was to help preserve nature and the wilderness. Adams' work was in several mainstream exhibitions in the 1960's. He was successful with his first portfolio and soon thereafter, had continued his success through the effects he visualized. The photographs were used in several calendars, posters and books. These photographs have also been archived on the internet for others to see.

Image Analysis:
All these images are in black and white seems to create a middle ground so that one doesn't have to consider what colour looks better to represent in the photographs (Although, it was probably due to the time the photos were taken that they were not available in colour). The monochromatic photos just shows the attributes of the photo that is most the most important. Adams did work with colour before but he has mentioned that having colour is more distracting and he can get a better sense of colour through his idea of previsualizing.

Meaning:
His photographs are mostly landscape which meant that it captured mostly nature. It seems like the main meaning Adams is trying to connote is that nature itself is untouched and is devoid of human interaction. Adams is connoting the beauty of nature and how not even human hands can destroy that with buildings and the creation of urban settings. Nature itself grows naturally to become beautiful compared to that of of humans which must grow to adapt. Adams did work with colour before but he has mentioned that having colour is more distracting and he can get a better sense of colour through his idea of previsualizing. The rule of thirds for landscapes are quite different in terms of distribution: The foreground which is most likely the darkened trees, the river and the closer forest is distributed in the lower third towards the middle third and the background is distributed around the middle third towards the higher third. The photograph displays a meandering river and forestry. The background clearly shows the sky and a mountain range, which is well distributed along the rule of thirds because it appears larger than it should. It uses a shallow depth of field because everything seems to be in focus. The aperture size seems to be quite large because of the fact that it captures the entire photograph in the same sharpness. The lighting was natural lighting as the landscape would be difficult to light up with artificial lighting. The ISO would have been quite high (1600-3200) due to the light used i.e. moonlight.

ADAMS A. (2015) The Tetons and the Snake River (1942): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Adams_The_Tetons_and_the_Snake_River.jpg [Accessed 18/3/2015]