Photographs and thoughts on photography and camera collecting
We’ve been going from time to time to a nearby shopping centre. While my wife goes shopping I usually go to the Barnes and Noble, grab something to read and then go and have a coffee. On the last few visits I’ve been reading ‘Looking at Ansel Adams‘ by Andrea G. Stillman.
As the description on Amazon says:
LOOKING AT ANSEL ADAMS is a personal and penetrating study that explores Ansel’s life as an artist by looking closely at the stories behind 20 of his most significant images. Immediately recognizable photographs like Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, and Mount McKinley and Wonder Lake are turned on their axes and seen from a new angle, along with ancillary photographs, alternative versions, and letters and postcards that relate to these beloved icons. Less familiar but equally important photographs provide unexpected insight into Ansel’s creative and personal life.
I finished it today. It’s a great book. Stillman worked as Adam’s assistant for a couple of years and she presents an interesting viewpoint. While she’s definitely an Adams fan she brings a little more objectivity than I’ve seen in some of the books he wrote himself. She really makes him human. I particularly liked some of the sections presenting different prints of some of Adams most famous pictures. He was clearly willing (eager even) to manipulate the image to achieve his vision. Well worth the read.
This is one of the first pictures I took with my Panasonic LX3 back in 2010 – in Patriots Park in Tarrytown, NY. I was fascinated by the stone structures built to channel the water (apparently called Andre brook) through the park. I liked the textures of the stone and the curving lines of the structures.
The park is of some historical significance as the site of the capture of Major John Andre during the Revolutionary War. A monument in the park commemorates this. As Wikipedia says:
During the Revolutionary War Major John André of the British Army was captured, disguised in civilian clothing, at the site by three Patriot militiamen. They found papers on him that implicated him in espionage with Benedict Arnold, a high-ranking officer of the Continental Army. After a military trial André was executed; Arnold defected to the British and lived his remaining years after the war in England.
