Ansel Adams is (rightly) regarded as one the of the pillars of “realistic” American landscape photography.  And though Adams is almost too popular to be hip, I will confess that I stand in awe of his work.  There is one point about Adams that many don’t realize, however.  He is great, in a large measure, because he was a darkroom expert: he was great at manipulating photos to express his artistic vision.

This point came to mind when I came across these four videos on Jim Goldstein’s blog.  These are four-part series of videos from the 1983 BBC Program “Master Photographers.”   I recommend watching all four, though to my mind the second video is the most interesting.

Ponder these quotes the next time you think that digital manipulation is killing photography:

“None of my images are realistic in terms of values…  it’s intentional manipulation” (at :50).

“The negative is the composer’s score, all the information is there. The print is the performance, so you interpret the score at various aesthetic emotional levels, but never far enough away dividing the original concept.” (at 4:00)

Notably, Adams was excited about the potential for the potential to reinterpret images using the computer:

“The thing that excites me is that in not too many years we’re going to have a entirely new medium of expression with the electronic image. I’ve seen what can happen to a print reproduced by the  laser scanner and how that is enhanced and that is just the beginning.    … and I know the potential is there and I know its going to be wonderful.  Well in that sense the negatives for these photographs as an example will take the place of a fresh kabal they are….personal or some early composer will then be reinterpreted through a fresh medium and I think that is marvelous.” (at 7:00).

Thanks to Jim Goldstein for point out these great videos and transcribing the quotes reproduced above.