One thing about Adams that deserves more attention is that he did his own processing of film and his own printing. This is important in creating the best image possible from a negative and for preserving the print's integrity for posterity. He was a very methodical photographer and demanded control over every phase of the process. He also was an experimenter and tried many films and chemicals until he found the best for his purposes.
Richard Brookes Well said, Richard! I too, greatly admired Master Adams and his superb work! I have the following quote on my site: "The negative is the equivalent of the composer's score, and the print the performance." ~Ansel Adams
Nice video guys, but one point, Tony...At about 15.10 when talking about his darkroom techniques, you said "The whole roll would have to be developed one way". Makes no sense, when Master Adams used sheet film for 99% of his work. He could develop each sheet (exposure) individually as required! Of course, that would apply when he shot his medium format, but that was rare, and unless I'm mistaken, in that segment clearly you're talking about his view camera work. Thanks.
Greetings, Tony & Chelsea. Thank you for this very informative video on Master Ansel Adams! As a photographer who was honored to have corresponded with Master Adams via Kodak 3.5 x 5 inch b/w Kodak postcards, he was kind enough to correspond with me (via 5x7 b/w postcards), and introduced me to many b/w darkroom techniques such as cold light heads v. condenser illumination, dodging/burning, print development chemistry, etc. His Basic Photo Series books were a true inspiration in my "developing" interest in photography back in the '70's. Thanks again for your insights into this great master!
You’re so true. I finally was able to afford my Seagull head in the early 90s. Still print silver gelatin to this day and it’s 2023! Don’t think the new AI can create a real silver gelatin print.
I love hearing more of these intellectual discussions about photography. And I have ADHD and I loved hearing you guys bring that up with him. Knowing he may have had it kind of gives me hope. Photography and those other creative arts are very good job choices for many people with ADHD because you can work in the moment and you can focus on something interesting. When we're actually interested in something we can focus like you wouldn't believe. And us ADHDers sometimes come across as annoying and eccentric. So this just reinforces my belief that he probably had it. (I have ADHD and a psychology degree so I'm not just making this up.)
9:32 +Tony Northup This is exactly why I love watching your videos, your childlike wonder and excitement for history and photography is one the endearing thing in youtube photography videos
This was your first podcast that I watched. Ansel Adams as the subject drew me in. I've enjoyed your reviews and your how-to's. And from now on I'll be enjoying your podcasts. The information was fascinating and delivered in a very enjoyable way.
Tony & Chelsea Northrup are not only easy to watch and listen to, they are extremely informative and helpful. The camera I first purchased is a Nikon Photomic F2 when I was in High School, I remember it cost me $400 (which was a lot for a kid in high school using their own money). I was lucky to know someone who worked for the airlines and purchased it in Japan for me. I still have the camera, along with some other relics and newer models including one of the last moderate Nikon's that uses film. I had a darkroom back in the 70's and kind of put photography on the back-burner when the "pocket" cameras and digital cameras came into fashion. I recently purchased the Nikon D7200 which is probably the perfect camera for me since it offers a range of photographic options, including video which I plan on using for future UA-cam videos on my "Web Series" type of media. Tony and Chelsea have an ENORMOUS amount of information, I have and will continue to support them by purchasing products and I plan on using their links to purchase even more. I think it would be a blast to hang out with Tony and Chelsea on photo shoots as their passion is similar to mine, but their knowledge and experience is light years beyond mine. If you have ANY interest in photography, you should subscribe to their channel and please support them, they really are giving way more than they know.
Chelsea and Tony, thank you for a very enlightening conversation. As an officer in our photo club, I would like to show some of your podcasts during our meetings. This particular video on Ansel Adams reveals a whole spectrum of challenges, skill and creativity that we probably all go through throughout our lives as a photographer.
A wonderful podcast about Ansel Adams. The only quibble I have is that early in the podcast you mention that Adams grew up in San Francisco and you alluded to the fact that he lived where he could see the Golden Gate bridge. My quibble is that Ansel Adams was born in 1902 but the Golden Gate bridge was built between 1933 and 1937. In fact one of Ansel's famous photos is "The Golden Gate before the Bridge" which he took in 1932. His vantage for that photo must have been a ship of some sort a mile or so west of the Golden Gate.
Another brilliant edition regarding the history of photography. I did not know anything about this subject before watching your videos. Now I cannot get enough. Beautifully researched and well presented in true professional Chelsea and Tony style. All I can say now is MORE please.
I love love love this podcast. Thanks so much! This seems to be so much effort to prepare but it's certainly worth it. It's so interesting and entertaining! Thank you!
UPDATE: We made a mistake! The Golden Gate Bridge wasn't built when Ansel was a kid so he definitely didn't grow up looking at it. Sorry about that! 📚 Buy Our Books on Amazon! 📚 📕Stunning Digital Photography: help.tc/s 📘Lightroom 6 Book: help.tc/l 📙Photoshop Book: help.tc/p 📗Buying Guide: help.tc/b
Tony & Chelsea Northrup barely two minutes and you stated a non truth. He was born in 1902 and construction of the Gate Golden Gate Bridge started in 1933. So how did he grow up seeing the Golden Gate Bridge? Is that what you mean for alternative view is that you will just make up facts that are not true? What other facts in this video that are made up? You do this with your other videos with made up facts.
The reason Ansel is so much more well known than any other photographer is because he is the greatest photographer ever period. He was the ultimate master of the medium. Today, the equivalent would be not only seeing landscape photographs like no other and mastering the view camera which is no easy task, but also inventing photoshop at the same time and full knowledge of its use all in his head.. He was a master in the darkroom like no other. The greatest. I have never seen a digital photo regardless of its sharpness ever be as sharp as his photos with as much depth and realism even if he had lenses that as you commented were "not very sharp". Just think of what really went into each of those photos. The time, the effort setting up a view camera, the precise focusing. Have you ever used a view camera and everything that goes into making an image in that format? That is an art in itself. It is nothing like a DSLR I can tell you that. You make it sound as if was by chance that he ended up like he did, like he was lucky or something. He has inspired more photographers than any other photographer. No other person has done more for photography than Ansel Adams.
Dude you need to get out more! He was the greatest ever because he came along fairly early in photography and he made a LOT of images. And he published books, and invented Zone. But that doesn’t mean we all have to like his work. For me it lacks a fair deal of emotion, like “so what”? Some of his prints I do like though.
I love watching to your podcasts. There's really not a more relaxing way to spend the late evening than listening to the two of you talk about the favourite hobby of ours :) You are doing a fantastic work!
Great podcast! Please keep this excellent series going! I think that showing the human side of “St. Adams” was a great thing to do. A couple of points: 1. Adams was born in 1902. the Golden Gate Bridge was started in 1933 and finished in 1937 (I walked across in the 1987 50 year celebration). So, I don’t believe he grew up seeing the Golden Gate Bridge as an early part of your podcast stated. 2. You guys should really go out to Yosemite (or at least put it on your bucket list). I’ve been there five times (lived in Silicon Valley for just under 30 years, so proximity was great) and I can tell you that the number of times your say “OMG” or the like just driving in from either the north or south entrance will break a calculator! :0) Besides, you two can then add some awesome pictures of it to your cadre of awesome pictures! Oh, and if your go, you got to at least visit the Ahwahnee Hotel or even stay there (it’s in the valley). Check out Ken Burns’ epic “The National Parks - America's Best Idea” as it has some great info on how Yosemite was set aside. Again, great podcast (and video cast).
Nice of you guys to show there are many paths to take, I refer to my photography as," more then a hobby less then a job." Something that has the promise of enjoyment.
Tony, you and Chelsea are great and have taught me a lot! One small correction... You say that Ansel Adams grew up within sight of the Golden Gate Bridge. He was born in 1902 and construction on the bridge didn't start until 1933.
Another thing that his parents put in his hands, at age 13, was a season pass to San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, where he wandered the grounds daily shooting photos with his Brownie camera. It’s my understanding that he had permission to skip school that year. 19 million people visited the exposition.
Tony: you said the Red filter blocks out the Red light. No No No. The Red filter transmits the Red light and blocks the Blue and Green light. Also. Ansel shot 4x5 and larger sheet film, so he didn't have to process "rolls" all the same. He used to shoot maybe 10 sheets of film and process each one differently while he was developing the Zone System. Ansel had his string of very beautiful female assistants. Virginia kept a stiff upper lip with her Victorian upbringing. Galen Rowell never really took off until his wife, Barbara, took over the business.
I believe he was seen on nationwide TV promoting Florida oranges/juice in 1953-54? That was the million $ boost/recognition, that he surly deserved. I was half way through reading his book The Negative for the third time when the light bulb burst into a "really get now" moment and it was amazing to finally be able to pre think a contract or push-etc the neg in a reliable way. But for me the zone sys was integral. It was also his genius to visualize how he needed the neg exposed to fit the chemicals/etc in development he was going to use AND his paper choice & chems for that print, BEFORE pulling the trigger. Now try & think all that through before loosing the "golden light" moment! His ideas also worked on 4x5 chromes I used to shoot to control it's limited exposure range.
The zone system goes beyond just metering, it's also about development and how to get the best possible and predictable results out of black and white film. Great show btw
While I'm a bit late seeing this interesting cast, I would like to say thanks, very interesting Tony, well done! . I will mention that Ansel did some stunning color images later in his career as well. I saw some in the Smithsonian a few years ago. The book "Ansel Adams in Color" Revised edition is really nice. I read he used labs for much of his color developing due to the difficulty of the process in the 40's. Quote: Yet he (Ansel Adams) once likened working in color to playing an out-of-tune piano. America's regnant Western landscape photographer tried to control every step of picture-making, but for much of his lifetime too many stages of the color process were out of his hands. Kodachrome-the first mass-market color film, introduced in 1935-was so complicated that even Adams, a darkroom wizard, had to rely on labs to develop it. Color printing was a crapshoot in the 1940s and '50s. Again....thank you guys for this!
It was great to witness the authentic love Tony has for Ansel Adams and his story. Looking for more videos about photographers from the past. I will never forget running into Ansel Adams hiking in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho in the late 1970's. He had a young assistant carrying his gear, but he had still made it up a pretty good trail at elevation (8,000+ ft - so little O2). A comment - maybe Ansel Adams did not take photos of the Golden Gate Bridge when he lived in the Bay Area (1900-1920's), because the bridge was not built yet? Or maybe you meant the Golden Gate passage itself?
Love your videos, as a history buff, young Ansel didn't take pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge because it wasn't completed until he was 35 years old, he was 33 when construction started.
Adams was not only a great artist....He was a brilliant darkroom worker. While other Photographers were struggling with 4 stops of 'latitude' (Dynamic range) He used sheet film in a 'View" camera and exposed many shots at different exposures (zone system) and printed them in 'register' in the darkroom. His shots are outstanding....Thanks for a great Podcast.
That is not how the zone system works. Having figured out the exposure for his highlights and his shadows which he wants to see detail in, he selects his film and exposure and develop the film accordingly. If the dynamic range was high (difference between his highlights and shadows), he would overexpose and underdevelop. If the dynamic range was low, he would underexpose and overdevelop. (Oversimplification. Also changes in concentrations and temperatures were crucial for the right amount of detail. It was a balance as important as ISO, f-stop and shutter speed). As long as your emulsion was concentrated enough, you can get the necessary latitude. Same is true today in a digital sense. As long as your sensor has a high enough saturation threshold, you can get enough latitude. HDR photography through exposure stacking is no longer necessary. That technique was useful when cameras took 8-bit JPEGs (or perhaps 10-bit RAW files). Likewise, bracketing and stacking in register was only necessary before film emulsion got advanced enough to handle the high dynamic range needed for the zone system.
Excellent show filled with lots of things I didn't know about Adams. I finally got out to Yosemite last year in November and was there during the first snow of the season and spent a full week there. I highly recommend you two get out there. Go in the early spring or fall prior to November 15. It's amazing.
I went to high school and college in Fresno (the nearest larger city to Yosemite). I got serious about photography in high school and got the opportunity in the late sixties to meet the man. What a thrill. Great presentation, and yes you must visit Yosemite sometime, but unfortunately it is not like to was. Too crowded and too controlling.
Awesome job! really llike the way you two interact, Tony taking the leading voice and Chelsea contrasting, complementing or echoing. Seeing you produces a sweet sensation/emotion. Survive the embats of emotional entrophy keep up with us!
14:12 "There's more than one way to go about it." I really love Chelsea's remarks about technique vs capture the moment. There is not one way, and technique is not everything either. Thank you, Chelsea!
Great Job always loved Ansel Adams work have read a few articles about him over the years but this was probably the most informative information about him. Thank you guys for doing a great job week after week very informative and fun to watch.Keep up the good work
+Kyle Medina but don't you think a t5i is too small in the hands? I have a t5i now and I'm thinking of getting the 70D and keep my kit lens which is the 18-135 and probably upgrade to a 100-400mm ii because I always hear that a 70D is good for wildlife photography and never heard anything good about the t5i, and I'm into wildlife photography.
Hey Tony it’s 2018 lol but I’m new to ur channel and would love to watch videos like this of the history of Photography and great photographers. I know there’s so much new technology coming out now that u cover but sometimes we lose the essence of photography and get caught up with technology so I’d love to watch videos like this.
Just to clarify as a kid he did not have a nice view of the golden gate bridge since he was about 31 when construction started on the bridge. Infact one of his early photos was of the Golden Gate before the bridge was built. After it was built he did take several photos.
f. 64 club aka pinhole photography ! Kidding. Nice and informative video. He was friends with the late Adolph Gasser in SF. I worked nearby and would visit Gassers store on my lunch break frequently until they closed. They had a couple of original photos of Ansels in storage, I was supposed to have a look but store closed when his son retired.
I'm dyslexic and to know of a great photographer like Ansel to be Dyslexic gives me hope :) I'm a graphic designer and an amateur photographer. Great video Tony & Chelsea :)
I read the three Adams books in high school and was a fan all my life. But seeing the actual prints in person years later at the Art Institute of Chicago. All I am going to say, is unless you see one in person, you really can't appreciate it.
I feel like Adams is also popular simply because his name is VERY easy to pronounce and remember. I genuinely feel like this is one of the reasons why he is so well known, you can show amazing work to people, but having an easy to remember name really helps them hold onto that info.
Hey Chony! You forgot to plug you book! SO lets do it here! Chony! I have a question! Where can i find a very affordable photography book crammed with awesome knowlage on this subject? :)
Great video as always. Love your zen attitude (you both). Hope you travelled since March 2016 and found out that the World was not just Noth-America... Indeed, Ansel Adams is a great photographer, and probably the most famous "landscape" photographer in the whole world (to be dethroned some day in the future), but what he is not, is the World's most famous photographer as Tony said at the very beginning of the video. Being French, I have at least one name in mind... Let's say Henri-Cartier Bresson
When you have time, please do a session about a living photographer who was the greatest protégé of Ansel Adams, namely John Sexton. He, IMO, has outdone his master Ansel, both in impact of image, and beautiful, insightful black and white photography. And, which is so rare with artists, he is a truly humble man, who still get embarrassed when people praise his genius as a photographer. One of the greatest living black and white photographers and artists:)
Never seen or heard of You two b4, but I like Ya..! lol I''m 43 now and have been into Ansel Adams & Taking Photo's (as well as messing about with Super 8) since being about 11..! But have never really had the belief or confidence to think I was any good, so I kinda gave up on photography, around 06 when Digital became more mainstream, as I could see that Film was gonna Die out, and digital become better and better, so I just let My Darkroom, just gather dust, where it still stands now, in My Bedroom of a one bed apartment... But just seeing this about Ansel, has brought Memories flooding back of how I used to love Painting with light, I may just be inspired to dust off the old Gnome... Thanks... Where can I see some of Your work please..?
Good video! Tip: Make sure the mikes are placed correctly. Condenser microphones seldom have their best sensitivity on the top, most have it on their side! Next time try them straight up and make sure the front is turned to the speaker!
First, a very good, informative podcats. A few points from a biased point of view (aren't they all). - I'm fairly sure Alfred Stieglitz's last name is pronounced "steeg-litz".. It's a German name, so ie would be "ee," not "ai." I refer to the documentary "The Eloquent Eye." - Ansel Adams came to Taos (where I live) a number of times at the invitation of Mabel Dodge Luhan, who famously got people from the arts to come to Taos and meet other people and be creative. One of her biographers (sorry, I don't remember which one) held that Adams decided to become a photographer instead of a concert pianist on a visit to Taos at the same time as Paul Strand, and that it was Strand's work that was the deciding factor. - Anecdote... Ansel Adams was visiting Ghost Ranch (near Abiquiu, NM) at the same that Georgia O'Keeffe was there. O'Keeffe (who, from all accounts, could be more annoying than anybody) convinced the caretaker of Ghost Ranch to open up the home of Robert Wood Johnson, because he had the only Steinway piano there, so Ansel could play for the group. - I've always heard that the most famous prints of "Moonrise - Hernandez, New Mexico" had a TON of dodging/burning involved (there were some clouds Adams didn't like). That was taken in 1941 but seems (on the surface) to fly in the face of the principles of f/64. - Marketing: Vincent Van Gogh died penniless. His brother, Theo, was a not-too-successful art dealer who was not in great financial shape when he died a few years later. It was Theo's wife, Johanna (Jo) who was left with a huge pile of her crazy brother-in-law's paintings that turned out to be the marketing genius and the main reason you have "Sunflowers" on coffee mugs. Keep up the great work!
perhaps the reason he didn't take photos of the golden gat bridge is because he did NOT grow up within site of it, because it wasn't even there until the 1930's. it opened in 1937
What really caught my attention is when Chelsey brought out the difference between intuitive photographers and those who try hard to learn the technical part of it and how Ansel was trying hard to learn the technical part of it. I beg to differ with Chelsey since the equipment Ansel was using did not afford him the opportunity of being intuitive. The modern cameras do pretty much capture what we see. The old ones were such a pain, one needed to see photography as a science, learn how to develop photos. Probably those who are not technically adroit can probably increase their potential by being more adroit and those who are more technical can sit back and try to be more intuitive. That would be exploring ones potentials in trying to get out of the comfort zone.
You know you're the best when your name becomes the cliche of greatness. If you're talking about intelligence, you say "I'm no Einstein, but . . ." If it's filmmaking, you say "I'm no Stanley Kubrick, but . . . " In photography, it's "I'm no Ansel Adams, but . . . " 💙
In May of 2018 I had the chance, for a few hours to visit Yosemite. I saw maybe 15% of the area, but when I came to Yosemite Valley, I arrived in a rare place with so much you couldn't completely fit in to your lens. I can't say enough about that place. To spend a life time there....
Hi Tony, don’t put down the Box Brownie! I was given one at age six and I loved it! Then on to my father’s Rolieflex… then on to SDP! Now it’s a Canon R6 and I love it too!
I think you got that backwards - with the Zone System, one exposes a negative for "the shadows", in other words, place the darkest part of your image on the lowest zone that will allow the details you want, and then push or pull (under or over develop) the negative to control the brightest (highest zone) part of the image.
wonderful. interesting, informative, and inspiring! nicely filmed and I appreciate the interaction between Chelsea and Tony. suggestion, after you visit Yosemite on a family trip continue to Bryce, Arches, Monument Valey, Capital Reef, ... rent an RV. you'll have a blast.
Ansel was a great photographer and an even better photo editor, before most people knew anything about photo editing and assumed it was just his skill as a photographer.
One thing about Adams that deserves more attention is that he did his own processing of film and his own printing. This is important in creating the best image possible from a negative and for preserving the print's integrity for posterity. He was a very methodical photographer and demanded control over every phase of the process. He also was an experimenter and tried many films and chemicals until he found the best for his purposes.
Richard Brookes Well said, Richard! I too, greatly admired Master Adams and his superb work! I have the following quote on my site:
"The negative is the equivalent of the composer's score, and the print the performance." ~Ansel Adams
Nice video guys, but one point, Tony...At about 15.10 when talking about his darkroom techniques, you said "The whole roll would have to be developed one way". Makes no sense, when Master Adams used sheet film for 99% of his work. He could develop each sheet (exposure) individually as required! Of course, that would apply when he shot his medium format, but that was rare, and unless I'm mistaken, in that segment clearly you're talking about his view camera work. Thanks.
Greetings, Tony & Chelsea.
Thank you for this very informative video on Master Ansel Adams! As a photographer who was honored to have corresponded with Master Adams via Kodak 3.5 x 5 inch b/w Kodak postcards, he was kind enough to correspond with me (via 5x7 b/w postcards), and introduced me to many b/w darkroom techniques such as cold light heads v. condenser illumination, dodging/burning, print development chemistry, etc. His Basic Photo Series books were a true inspiration in my "developing" interest in photography back in the '70's. Thanks again for your insights into this great master!
You’re so true. I finally was able to afford my Seagull head in the early 90s. Still print silver gelatin to this day and it’s 2023! Don’t think the new AI can create a real silver gelatin print.
I love hearing more of these intellectual discussions about photography. And I have ADHD and I loved hearing you guys bring that up with him. Knowing he may have had it kind of gives me hope. Photography and those other creative arts are very good job choices for many people with ADHD because you can work in the moment and you can focus on something interesting. When we're actually interested in something we can focus like you wouldn't believe. And us ADHDers sometimes come across as annoying and eccentric. So this just reinforces my belief that he probably had it. (I have ADHD and a psychology degree so I'm not just making this up.)
9:32 +Tony Northup This is exactly why I love watching your videos, your childlike wonder and excitement for history and photography is one the endearing thing in youtube photography videos
This was your first podcast that I watched. Ansel Adams as the subject drew me in. I've enjoyed your reviews and your how-to's. And from now on I'll be enjoying your podcasts. The information was fascinating and delivered in a very enjoyable way.
+Thomas Allen Thanks!
Loved the history of Ansel . . . really super of you to do so! It speaks volumes about who you be. Thanks . . . Rachel
Tony & Chelsea Northrup are not only easy to watch and listen to, they are extremely informative and helpful. The camera I first purchased is a Nikon Photomic F2 when I was in High School, I remember it cost me $400 (which was a lot for a kid in high school using their own money). I was lucky to know someone who worked for the airlines and purchased it in Japan for me. I still have the camera, along with some other relics and newer models including one of the last moderate Nikon's that uses film. I had a darkroom back in the 70's and kind of put photography on the back-burner when the "pocket" cameras and digital cameras came into fashion. I recently purchased the Nikon D7200 which is probably the perfect camera for me since it offers a range of photographic options, including video which I plan on using for future UA-cam videos on my "Web Series" type of media. Tony and Chelsea have an ENORMOUS amount of information, I have and will continue to support them by purchasing products and I plan on using their links to purchase even more. I think it would be a blast to hang out with Tony and Chelsea on photo shoots as their passion is similar to mine, but their knowledge and experience is light years beyond mine. If you have ANY interest in photography, you should subscribe to their channel and please support them, they really are giving way more than they know.
Chelsea and Tony, thank you for a very enlightening conversation. As an officer in our photo club, I would like to show some of your podcasts during our meetings. This particular video on Ansel Adams reveals a whole spectrum of challenges, skill and creativity that we probably all go through throughout our lives as a photographer.
A wonderful podcast about Ansel Adams. The only quibble I have is that early in the podcast you mention that Adams grew up in San Francisco and you alluded to the fact that he lived where he could see the Golden Gate bridge. My quibble is that Ansel Adams was born in 1902 but the Golden Gate bridge was built between 1933 and 1937. In fact one of Ansel's famous photos is "The Golden Gate before the Bridge" which he took in 1932. His vantage for that photo must have been a ship of some sort a mile or so west of the Golden Gate.
Ansel Adams took pictures of the Golden Gate before the bridge was built; he also took pictures of the bridge itself.
Another brilliant edition regarding the history of photography. I did not know anything about this subject before watching your videos. Now I cannot get enough. Beautifully researched and well presented in true professional Chelsea and Tony style. All I can say now is MORE please.
I love love love this podcast. Thanks so much! This seems to be so much effort to prepare but it's certainly worth it. It's so interesting and entertaining! Thank you!
UPDATE: We made a mistake! The Golden Gate Bridge wasn't built when Ansel was a kid so he definitely didn't grow up looking at it. Sorry about that!
📚 Buy Our Books on Amazon! 📚
📕Stunning Digital Photography: help.tc/s
📘Lightroom 6 Book: help.tc/l
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Tony & Chelsea Northrup barely two minutes and you stated a non truth. He was born in 1902 and construction of the Gate Golden Gate Bridge started in 1933. So how did he grow up seeing the Golden Gate Bridge? Is that what you mean for alternative view is that you will just make up facts that are not true? What other facts in this video that are made up? You do this with your other videos with made up facts.
The reason Ansel is so much more well known than any other photographer is because he is the greatest photographer ever period. He was the ultimate master of the medium. Today, the equivalent would be not only seeing landscape photographs like no other and mastering the view camera which is no easy task, but also inventing photoshop at the same time and full knowledge of its use all in his head.. He was a master in the darkroom like no other. The greatest. I have never seen a digital photo regardless of its sharpness ever be as sharp as his photos with as much depth and realism even if he had lenses that as you commented were "not very sharp". Just think of what really went into each of those photos. The time, the effort setting up a view camera, the precise focusing. Have you ever used a view camera and everything that goes into making an image in that format? That is an art in itself. It is nothing like a DSLR I can tell you that. You make it sound as if was by chance that he ended up like he did, like he was lucky or something. He has inspired more photographers than any other photographer. No other person has done more for photography than Ansel Adams.
Dude you need to get out more! He was the greatest ever because he came along fairly early in photography and he made a LOT of images. And he published books, and invented Zone. But that doesn’t mean we all have to like his work. For me it lacks a fair deal of emotion, like “so what”? Some of his prints I do like though.
Tony, I just want to say I appreciate the audio in this vid and the communication between you and Chelsea.
This was brilliant. I actually find his architecture, colour and portraiture work really fascinating. He was so human. Well done guys!
I love watching to your podcasts. There's really not a more relaxing way to spend the late evening than listening to the two of you talk about the favourite hobby of ours :)
You are doing a fantastic work!
Great podcast! Please keep this excellent series going! I think that showing the human side of “St. Adams” was a great thing to do.
A couple of points:
1. Adams was born in 1902. the Golden Gate Bridge was started in 1933 and finished in 1937 (I walked across in the 1987 50 year celebration). So, I don’t believe he grew up seeing the Golden Gate Bridge as an early part of your podcast stated.
2. You guys should really go out to Yosemite (or at least put it on your bucket list). I’ve been there five times (lived in Silicon Valley for just under 30 years, so proximity was great) and I can tell you that the number of times your say “OMG” or the like just driving in from either the north or south entrance will break a calculator! :0) Besides, you two can then add some awesome pictures of it to your cadre of awesome pictures! Oh, and if your go, you got to at least visit the Ahwahnee Hotel or even stay there (it’s in the valley).
Check out Ken Burns’ epic “The National Parks - America's Best Idea” as it has some great info on how Yosemite was set aside.
Again, great podcast (and video cast).
+ Tony Northrup this is something that you two are straight up Nailing . Thank you
I’m so glad to have stumbled upon you guys! I was looking for exactly you, I just didn’t know until know. Madly injecting whole lot of your videos.
Nice of you guys to show there are many paths to take, I refer to my photography as," more then a hobby less then a job." Something that has the promise of enjoyment.
Tony, you and Chelsea are great and have taught me a lot! One small correction... You say that Ansel Adams grew up within sight of the Golden Gate Bridge. He was born in 1902 and construction on the bridge didn't start until 1933.
He had a nice view of the Golden Gate. Tony was in error to add, ‘bridge’.
Thank you guys! This was like the most amazing podcast ever!
He's also famous because he came at the beginning of the phone directory......................only joking :-)
Thanks for taking the time to research and present these. Fairly new to channel but enjoying your work more than most of the content on youtube!
Another thing that his parents put in his hands, at age 13, was a season pass to San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, where he wandered the grounds daily shooting photos with his Brownie camera. It’s my understanding that he had permission to skip school that year. 19 million people visited the exposition.
Tony: you said the Red filter blocks out the Red light. No No No. The Red filter transmits the Red light and blocks the Blue and Green light. Also. Ansel shot 4x5 and larger sheet film, so he didn't have to process "rolls" all the same. He used to shoot maybe 10 sheets of film and process each one differently while he was developing the Zone System.
Ansel had his string of very beautiful female assistants. Virginia kept a stiff upper lip with her Victorian upbringing.
Galen Rowell never really took off until his wife, Barbara, took over the business.
I believe he was seen on nationwide TV promoting Florida oranges/juice in 1953-54? That was the million $ boost/recognition, that he surly deserved. I was half way through reading his book The Negative for the third time when the light bulb burst into a "really get now" moment and it was amazing to finally be able to pre think a contract or push-etc the neg in a reliable way. But for me the zone sys was integral.
It was also his genius to visualize how he needed the neg exposed to fit the chemicals/etc in development he was going to use AND his paper choice & chems for that print, BEFORE pulling the trigger. Now try & think all that through before loosing the "golden light" moment! His ideas also worked on 4x5 chromes I used to shoot to control it's limited exposure range.
The zone system goes beyond just metering, it's also about development and how to get the best possible and predictable results out of black and white film. Great show btw
While I'm a bit late seeing this interesting cast, I would like to say thanks, very interesting Tony, well done! .
I will mention that Ansel did some stunning color images later in his career as well. I saw some in the Smithsonian a few years ago. The book "Ansel Adams in Color" Revised edition is really nice. I read he used labs for much of his color developing due to the difficulty of the process in the 40's.
Quote: Yet he (Ansel Adams) once likened working in color to playing an out-of-tune piano.
America's regnant Western landscape photographer tried to control every
step of picture-making, but for much of his lifetime too many stages of
the color process were out of his hands. Kodachrome-the first
mass-market color film, introduced in 1935-was so complicated that even
Adams, a darkroom wizard, had to rely on labs to develop it. Color
printing was a crapshoot in the 1940s and '50s.
Again....thank you guys for this!
It was great to witness the authentic love Tony has for Ansel Adams and his story. Looking for more videos about photographers from the past. I will never forget running into Ansel Adams hiking in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho in the late 1970's. He had a young assistant carrying his gear, but he had still made it up a pretty good trail at elevation (8,000+ ft - so little O2). A comment - maybe Ansel Adams did not take photos of the Golden Gate Bridge when he lived in the Bay Area (1900-1920's), because the bridge was not built yet? Or maybe you meant the Golden Gate passage itself?
Love your videos, as a history buff, young Ansel didn't take pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge because it wasn't completed until he was 35 years old, he was 33 when construction started.
Adams was not only a great artist....He was a brilliant darkroom worker. While other Photographers were struggling with 4 stops of 'latitude' (Dynamic range) He used sheet film in a 'View" camera and exposed many shots at different exposures (zone system) and printed them in 'register' in the darkroom. His shots are outstanding....Thanks for a great Podcast.
That is not how the zone system works. Having figured out the exposure for his highlights and his shadows which he wants to see detail in, he selects his film and exposure and develop the film accordingly.
If the dynamic range was high (difference between his highlights and shadows), he would overexpose and underdevelop. If the dynamic range was low, he would underexpose and overdevelop. (Oversimplification. Also changes in concentrations and temperatures were crucial for the right amount of detail. It was a balance as important as ISO, f-stop and shutter speed).
As long as your emulsion was concentrated enough, you can get the necessary latitude. Same is true today in a digital sense. As long as your sensor has a high enough saturation threshold, you can get enough latitude. HDR photography through exposure stacking is no longer necessary. That technique was useful when cameras took 8-bit JPEGs (or perhaps 10-bit RAW files).
Likewise, bracketing and stacking in register was only necessary before film emulsion got advanced enough to handle the high dynamic range needed for the zone system.
Excellent show filled with lots of things I didn't know about Adams. I finally got out to Yosemite last year in November and was there during the first snow of the season and spent a full week there. I highly recommend you two get out there. Go in the early spring or fall prior to November 15. It's amazing.
Great review of Ansel - look forward to more
That's the first podcast that I've watched from you guys. I will now check out the rest.
I went to high school and college in Fresno (the nearest larger city to Yosemite). I got serious about photography in high school and got the opportunity in the late sixties to meet the man. What a thrill. Great presentation, and yes you must visit Yosemite sometime, but unfortunately it is not like to was. Too crowded and too controlling.
Wonderful podcast, thank you for doing all the research on Ansel Adams for us.
Awesome job! really llike the way you two interact, Tony taking the leading voice and Chelsea contrasting, complementing or echoing. Seeing you produces a sweet sensation/emotion. Survive the embats of emotional entrophy keep up with us!
Tony ,thank you for your lesson and I learned so much about Ansel Adam from you.❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
14:12 "There's more than one way to go about it." I really love Chelsea's remarks about technique vs capture the moment. There is not one way, and technique is not everything either. Thank you, Chelsea!
Loved this series. Hope you guys continue to do it!
Thank you for saving me from my boring rainy evening with your awesome content and beautiful faces 😊😂😄
This was an enjoyable podcast. You are both so well spoken and the content flows perfectly!
Great Job always loved Ansel Adams work have read a few articles about him over the years but this was probably the most informative information about him. Thank you guys for doing a great job week after week very informative and fun to watch.Keep up the good work
You guys are great! Fantastic job on photography history! Such dedication! thank you!
Thanks for this very interesting look at Ansel Adams.
T5i with a 100-400mm ii or a 70D with a 18-135mm stm?
+Kyle Medina but don't you think a t5i is too small in the hands? I have a t5i now and I'm thinking of getting the 70D and keep my kit lens which is the 18-135 and probably upgrade to a 100-400mm ii because I always hear that a 70D is good for wildlife photography and never heard anything good about the t5i, and I'm into wildlife photography.
Hey Tony it’s 2018 lol but I’m new to ur channel and would love to watch videos like this of the history of Photography and great photographers. I know there’s so much new technology coming out now that u cover but sometimes we lose the essence of photography and get caught up with technology so I’d love to watch videos like this.
I was going to research and study him, thank you so much! So much better than research on my own.
I love these podcasts guys... Great job!!
Just to clarify as a kid he did not have a nice view of the golden gate bridge since he was about 31 when construction started on the bridge. Infact one of his early photos was of the Golden Gate before the bridge was built. After it was built he did take several photos.
f. 64 club aka pinhole photography ! Kidding. Nice and informative video. He was friends with the late Adolph Gasser in SF. I worked nearby and would visit Gassers store on my lunch break frequently until they closed. They had a couple of original photos of Ansels in storage, I was supposed to have a look but store closed when his son retired.
I'm dyslexic and to know of a great photographer like Ansel to be Dyslexic gives me hope :) I'm a graphic designer and an amateur photographer. Great video Tony & Chelsea :)
Thanks for this video. Learnt a few things about Ansel Adams.
I LOVE that you guys do these. So unique. You should do Avedon.
That famous portrait photo of ansel (the one showing in the tv) who shot it? And what camera was used it?
Super Podcast. So pleased that I took time to watch this presentation on so many levels.
Awesome job. I hope you keep doing this sort of stuff
Great video as usual Tony - please do more of this, very interesting.
Really enjoyable and great to learn something about his journey.
Interesting... I have a print above my tv, as I watch this video, by Ansel Adams. Oak Tree Sunrise, 1966. Inspiring touch for watching your videos.
I read the three Adams books in high school and was a fan all my life. But seeing the actual prints in person years later at the Art Institute of Chicago. All I am going to say, is unless you see one in person, you really can't appreciate it.
Wow how come I haven’t seen this before?? Really loved it.
That was a great pod cast thank you !
I feel like Adams is also popular simply because his name is VERY easy to pronounce and remember. I genuinely feel like this is one of the reasons why he is so well known, you can show amazing work to people, but having an easy to remember name really helps them hold onto that info.
Very interesting and well presented. Thanks.
What an entertaining team you two make!
Hey Chony! You forgot to plug you book! SO lets do it here!
Chony! I have a question! Where can i find a very affordable photography book crammed with awesome knowlage on this subject? :)
Great video as always. Love your zen attitude (you both).
Hope you travelled since March 2016 and found out that the World was not just Noth-America... Indeed, Ansel Adams is a great photographer, and probably the most famous "landscape" photographer in the whole world (to be dethroned some day in the future), but what he is not, is the World's most famous photographer as Tony said at the very beginning of the video. Being French, I have at least one name in mind... Let's say Henri-Cartier Bresson
Tony said he didn't take pictures of Golden Gate Bridge, but he did do one called Golden Gate Before the Bridge. Beautiful picture, too.
Tony - you may want to take a look at, "The Golden Gate Bridge from Baker Beach, Ansel Adams circ. 1953".
When you have time, please do a session about a living photographer who was the greatest protégé of Ansel Adams, namely John Sexton. He, IMO, has outdone his master Ansel, both in impact of image, and beautiful, insightful black and white photography. And, which is so rare with artists, he is a truly humble man, who still get embarrassed when people praise his genius as a photographer. One of the greatest living black and white photographers and artists:)
i agree
Never seen or heard of You two b4, but I like Ya..! lol
I''m 43 now and have been into Ansel Adams & Taking Photo's (as well as messing about with Super 8) since being about 11..!
But have never really had the belief or confidence to think I was any good, so I kinda gave up on photography, around 06 when Digital became more mainstream, as I could see that Film was gonna Die out, and digital become better and better, so I just let My Darkroom, just gather dust, where it still stands now, in My Bedroom of a one bed apartment...
But just seeing this about Ansel, has brought Memories flooding back of how I used to love Painting with light, I may just be inspired to dust off the old Gnome... Thanks...
Where can I see some of Your work please..?
Nice job on the research. Great episode.
Super interesting. Thanks so much for this. The podcasts are rockin!
Awesome show! Thanks a bunch.
Good video!
Tip: Make sure the mikes are placed correctly. Condenser microphones seldom have their best sensitivity on the top, most have it on their side! Next time try them straight up and make sure the front is turned to the speaker!
Love the history lesson, great idea to do videos about some of the greatest photographers!
First, a very good, informative podcats. A few points from a biased point of view (aren't they all).
- I'm fairly sure Alfred Stieglitz's last name is pronounced "steeg-litz".. It's a German name, so ie would be "ee," not "ai." I refer to the documentary "The Eloquent Eye."
- Ansel Adams came to Taos (where I live) a number of times at the invitation of Mabel Dodge Luhan, who famously got people from the arts to come to Taos and meet other people and be creative. One of her biographers (sorry, I don't remember which one) held that Adams decided to become a photographer instead of a concert pianist on a visit to Taos at the same time as Paul Strand, and that it was Strand's work that was the deciding factor.
- Anecdote... Ansel Adams was visiting Ghost Ranch (near Abiquiu, NM) at the same that Georgia O'Keeffe was there. O'Keeffe (who, from all accounts, could be more annoying than anybody) convinced the caretaker of Ghost Ranch to open up the home of Robert Wood Johnson, because he had the only Steinway piano there, so Ansel could play for the group.
- I've always heard that the most famous prints of "Moonrise - Hernandez, New Mexico" had a TON of dodging/burning involved (there were some clouds Adams didn't like). That was taken in 1941 but seems (on the surface) to fly in the face of the principles of f/64.
- Marketing: Vincent Van Gogh died penniless. His brother, Theo, was a not-too-successful art dealer who was not in great financial shape when he died a few years later. It was Theo's wife, Johanna (Jo) who was left with a huge pile of her crazy brother-in-law's paintings that turned out to be the marketing genius and the main reason you have "Sunflowers" on coffee mugs.
Keep up the great work!
perhaps the reason he didn't take photos of the golden gat bridge is because he did NOT grow up within site of it, because it wasn't even there until the 1930's. it opened in 1937
Yup, this idea sure is working. Great job and thank you.
Ansel used a large format camera which beats every full frame camera :) shoot large formt and scan...
No. Shoot, develop and print a silver gelatin print. No ink on paper.
What really caught my attention is when Chelsey brought out the difference between intuitive photographers and those who try hard to learn the technical part of it and how Ansel was trying hard to learn the technical part of it. I beg to differ with Chelsey since the equipment Ansel was using did not afford him the opportunity of being intuitive. The modern cameras do pretty much capture what we see. The old ones were such a pain, one needed to see photography as a science, learn how to develop photos. Probably those who are not technically adroit can probably increase their potential by being more adroit and those who are more technical can sit back and try to be more intuitive. That would be exploring ones potentials in trying to get out of the comfort zone.
This is an excellent series.
A brilliant video, your best yet. Please can we have more about other photographers? Thanks
Enjoyed the show. Thanks!
You know you're the best when your name becomes the cliche of greatness. If you're talking about intelligence, you say "I'm no Einstein, but . . ." If it's filmmaking, you say "I'm no Stanley Kubrick, but . . . "
In photography, it's "I'm no Ansel Adams, but . . . " 💙
Great pod cast, very interesting nicely researched.
Nice little insight of Ansel Adams. :-)
Just wondering if Ansel Adams or Richard Avedon were alive today, what camera system do you think they would choose to use?
He’d still be shooting his 8x10 Agfa Commercial field camera. Why change now? Although, he might have selected the new Chamonix 8x10. Super light.
In May of 2018 I had the chance, for a few hours to visit Yosemite. I saw maybe 15% of the area, but when I came to Yosemite Valley, I arrived in a rare place with so much you couldn't completely fit in to your lens. I can't say enough about that place. To spend a life time there....
Fantastic podcast!
Hi Tony, don’t put down the Box Brownie! I was given one at age six and I loved it! Then on to my father’s Rolieflex… then on to SDP! Now it’s a Canon R6 and I love it too!
Expose for the highlights and develop for the shadows.
Under expose, over develop.
I think you got that backwards - with the Zone System, one exposes a negative for "the shadows", in other words, place the darkest part of your image on the lowest zone that will allow the details you want, and then push or pull (under or over develop) the negative to control the brightest (highest zone) part of the image.
@@daveh6177 I’m talking digital photography, not film.
tony your mic cord bothers me lol
wonderful. interesting, informative, and inspiring! nicely filmed and I appreciate the interaction between Chelsea and Tony.
suggestion, after you visit Yosemite on a family trip continue to Bryce, Arches, Monument Valey, Capital Reef, ... rent an RV. you'll have a blast.
Love what Tony said about you don't see the powerlines till you take the picture lol
He didn't take pictures of the Golden Gate bridge early in his career because it doesn't exist yet, it was built in 1937!
I was thinking the came thing as Tony said that. But the comment that Adams preferred nature to man-made things seems to be valid.
Ansel was a great photographer and an even better photo editor, before most people knew anything about photo editing and assumed it was just his skill as a photographer.