New Ansel Adams exhibit

[RobertTheFat]

This afternoon my wife and I went to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts to see our fourth (at least) exhibit of Ansel Adams's work. This one was different from the others in that it juxtaposed many of Adams's photos with photos of the same or similar subjects by some of Adams's predecessors, contemporaries, and successors. (One of the successors was a Finnish photographer whom we had met at an event at the Griffin Museum last year.) The result was quite interesting and well worth seeing if it comes your way or if you happen to be in Boston before the exhibit closes here in February.

But what I found most interesting was how popular the exhibit apparently is. The exhibition hall was about as crowded as I've ever seen it - comparable to a landmark exhibit of paintings by the Dutch masters several years ago. The exhibit had received a very favorable review in the Boston Globe when it opened earlier this month, but the size of the crowd greatly exceeded my expectations. I guess I had no idea that fine-art photography was that popular with the masses. I take it as a very good sign. I'd be interested to hear whether the rest of you have seen a similar level of enthusiasm for photography exhibits in your parts of the world.

[kvbarkley]

Along the same vein - but not really 8^) - if you get a chance go see the WWI documentary by Peter Jackson "They Shall not grow old" They have done some amazing work restoring the WWI movie footage - really pulling details out of the shadows.

[Tronhard]

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@kvbarkley wrote:

Along the same vein - but not really 8^) - if you get a chance go see the WWI documentary by Peter Jackson "They Shall not grow old" They have done some amazing work restoring the WWI movie footage - really pulling details out of the shadows.

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I am impressed by the fact that Jackson hired forensic llip readers to identify what the soldiers were saying, and using the regimental insignias, was able to match the dialects of the people in the videos to produce a sound track.  Jackson is very keen on WWI history and has a collection of WWI aircraft of his own. 

I am waiting for the long-awaited re-make of the Dam Busters WWII film, originally made in the 1950's when a lot of information was still regarded as secret.  Now, with that information released, it should offer a whole new perspective on the raid.  It has been a long time coming but the film must be made within the next 20 months or Jackson loses the rights to the story apparently.  There has already been a major investment in scenery and props, including full-size mock-ups of Lancaster bombers.

[kvbarkley]

I saw it with a 30 minute commentary by Jackson after the movie. It got quite humourous when every time they needed some original piece of gear, Jackson chimed in that he had one - including some original field guns they used to get the exact sound of the breech opening and closing.

[Tronhard]

Sorry Robert:

We rather hi-jacked your post by going off topic about the film. 

Back on the original subject, AA's work is a great reminder to us that amazing images are the product of talent, techique and toil rather than getting the newest piece of kit on the market, as it is so tempting to do, to make us better photographers.

We have come a long way from AA's day, especially in the portability and performance of our equipment, and in the economy of taking images but we can still learn much from studying his and his peers' images.   I got a book just before last Christmas "1001 Photographs: You Must See Before You Die" - it turned out to be a perfect resource to study while waiting for my partner to attend her various medical treatments.  Each page is a review of an image (dating back to the first and up to digital), that was either a landmark or a good example of a technique, art or social movement, or a point in history captured by the lens.  From that I learned of many other photographers whose work was worthy of investigation.

Never stop learning...

[jd_mitchell]

What gets me with Ansel's work is the combonation of tehnical detail in his images along with the simplicity of the subject matter . There isn't a lot of clutter but a ton to see.