I am going to try to recreate his romanticism and landscape photos.
As well as taking photographs the storm that affected jersey and here are some of the examples I am going to go off.
Adams inspired me because he takes nature into a different perspective and I want to recrate the aesthetic beauty that he used to capture in photography and see how I can analysis his photos to do the same with mine.
Areas to visit and document…
cliff-paths
beaches
sand dunes
fields
country lanes and paths
woods
valleys
SSI
One of the key techniques that Adams applied in many of his images was to place the horizon about two-thirds of the way up the frame. This would mean the composition was biased in favour of the landscape rather than the sky.
So I am going to apply this and many of his techquines to try and replicate similar photos to Adams.
Ansel Easton Adams was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West
Ansel Easton Addams was born February 20, 1902 in Western Addition, San Francisco, California, United States, he went on in his life to marry and have three children, he died April 22, 1984 (the same year as his wife) at age 82 years old at Bariatric Surgery Centre at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, Monterey, California, United States.
Addams grew up in a wealthy family in the sand dunes of the golden gate, at 4 years old Addams was nocked over in the aftershock of the large earthquake and fire in 1906 and broke his nose, this created his very distinct appearance as he broke his nose so bad it formed differently.
Interestingly enough this tragic accident is partially what we have to thank for his major contributions to the world of photography. his misshaped nose, naturally shy nature and to an extent, his genius lead Addams to become a bit of a social outcast within his years of schooling. Addams moved schools a lot throughout the years not only because of his inability to fit in but it is also suspected that he was diagnosed as ‘hyperactive’ it is also speculated he would be diagnosed with dyslexia in the modern day. Eventually after his farther grew tired of constantly moving Addams from school to school he decided the he and Addams Aunt would tutor him. This is when Addams love for nature and photography really developed.
A year after the earthquake the family lost their fortune in the global financial crisis in 1907, his farther then spent all his life fruitlessly attempting to rebuild what they had. As Ansel mum gave birth to Ansel in her forties and Ansel’s farther was over two decades older than his wife both parents were on the older side when Ansel was still a teenager, this lead too his mother becoming increasingly obsessive over what they would have to leave behind for their son once they both inevitably passed. After the financial crisis she feared she would have nothing to leave her son and had limited time to rebuild their once fortune. The Addams were typically a very conservative house-hold both socially and emotionally, with the combination of his much older farther, his mothers maiden sister and the affluent family history the house hold could be considered a typical Victorian environment. This all combined definitely effected Ansel in his later life. Ansel’s farther however was very supportive of him and all his endeavours and extremely patient with Ansel’s slower ability to learn and his failures in typical schooling.
Ansel’s childhood was unmistakeably different from kids his age and this allowed him to cultivate the deep love for nature he carried with him throughout his life, he was found outside more often than not during this period either going for hikes across the dunes or long walks in the wilderness near his home.
At twelve Ansel picked up the piano and leant how to read music, he became extremely accomplished at this and by 1920 it was his intended profession but eventually Ansel realised his true passion was I photography, despite giving up on piano the years of discipline and commitment helped thoroughly with developing Ansel’s creative vision and inspired him to write influential and educational literature later I life.
in 1927 Addams created his first visualised photograph, this set off a passion in him, the switch from pianist to photographer was rapid as Ansel discovered a passion for capturing what he envisioned in his ‘minds eye’.
Monolith, The Face of Half Dome, 1927 by Ansel Adams
this is when he became acquainted with Albert . M Bender , his influence was immediate and the next day after their first encounter Albert was in the process of helping Ansel with the publication of his portfolio.
Albert supported Ansel financially and physiologically as his passion grew and fundamentally changed Ansel’s life forever with his encouragement.
Addams travelled wide and far during not just his summers but throughout the year climbing mountains and going on week long hikes with all of his heavy camera equipment just in attempt to capture the perfect picture
The zone system
The Zone System assigns numbers from 0 through 10 to different brightness values, with 0 representing black, 5 middle gray, and 10 pure white; these values are known as zones. To make zones easily distinguishable from other quantities
The Zone System is a photographic technique for determining optimal film exposure and development, formulated by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer. Adams described the Zone System as ” not an invention of mine; it is a codification of the principles of sensitometry, worked out by Fred Archer and myself at the Art Centre School in Los Angeles, around 1939–40.”
visualisation
Visualization is a simple technique that you can use to create a strong mental image of a future event. With good use of visualization, you can practice in advance for the event, so that you can prepare properly for it. And by visualizing success, you can build the self-confidence you need to perform well.
Group f/64
Group f/64 or f.64 was a group founded by seven 20th-century San Francisco Bay Area photographers who shared a common photographic style characterized by sharply focused and carefully framed images seen through a particularly Western viewpoint
The name of this Group is derived from a diaphragm number of the photographic lens. It signifies to a large extent the qualities of clearness and definition of the photographic image which is an important element in the work of members of this Group.
group f/64 was a loose association of California photographers who promoted a style of sharply detailed, purist photography. The group, formed in 1932, constituted a revolt against Pictorialism, the soft-focused, academic photography that was then prevalent among West Coast artists.
His Influence On Others – His Legacy
Ansel Adams work is still universally admired throughout the work and has inspired many amazing photographers throughout the years a couple key mentions are:
Wyn Bullock – Wynn Bullock was an American photographer whose work is included in over 90 major museum collections around the world. He received substantial critical acclaim during his lifetime, published numerous books and is mentioned in all the standard histories of modern photography.
Edward Weston – Edward Weston (born March 24, 1886, Highland Park, Illinois, U.S.—died January 1, 1958, Carmel, California) major American photographer of the early to mid-20th century, best known for his carefully composed, sharply focused images of natural forms, landscapes, and nudes.
in both their photography you can see a clear use of Ansel Adams zone system and Ansel’s style of very exposed black and white photography.
To create these photos I went to various areas within St Ouen and took photos of things such as pathways and man-made building which are amongst the natural landscapes.
Contact sheet:
During my photoshoot I took over 100 photographs of different exposures (over, under, neutral) so that I am next able to combine them using the HDR option in Adobe Lightroom classic to create photos similar to Angel Adams.
I edited these images using the same method which I used during my previous blogpost where I used the HDR option in Lightroom to merge three images together to create a more intense contrasted version.
Final photos:
Analysing:
This first photo was taken in Saint Ouens area on quite a rainy day which added a darkness to the clouds. This is a successful image as it has very bright areas as well as very dark which was my aim in order to create a similar effect to Ansel Adams. I like how the foreground of the photo consists of many fine details for example the tree branches and the windows, whereas the upper half of the image consists of a simple yet effective empty space with only the darkness of the clouds. I find this allows the photo to be nice to look at as there is not too much going on bringing the viewers attention to each area. The intense dark clouds create a feeling of the sublime as it makes the clouds and weather appear extremely powerful and makes you almost intimidated by it as it has a large amount of control.
Other photos:
Experimentation
I decided to also edit one of my photos in colour so I am able to compare the black and white version with the coloured one to see which style I prefer. The coloured version has a completely different feeling to it in comparison to the black and white. It doesn’t produce the feeling of the sublime as it doesn’t make you feel intimidated in the way the black and white photo does with the dark and intense clouds and weather. Instead this one produces a happy tone as the weather appears to be sunny and all the colours within the photo are bright and saturated. I find the coloured one interesting as through increasing the saturation colours which weren’t there before start to appear creating almost a new image.
Virtual gallery
I created a virtual gallery using the website ‘Artsteps’. I added a simple black frame with a white border to each of the photos and made two photos the same size and I made the main photo larger.
A small portion of my photos were taken in France and I think they are linked with Ansel Adams quite because of the use of his mountain photos.
Colour to Black & White:
I edited these images on photoshop by going to adjustments and then black & white. from there, I was able to adjust the different colours with the scale. this meant that I could make some parts of the photo look darker and some look lighter. i like the ones where the snow is very clear and visible because it means i could have a very bright white which would be considered a rating of 10 on Ansel Adam’s Zone System.
Final Images
Storm Damage:
For this photoshoot, the focus was on the storm that hit the island in November 2023. the impact of strong winds resulting in a tornado reached speeds up to 186mph and resulted in major damage to jerseys homes and nature. thousands of trees were downed or damaged, a lot of attractions were closed due to the impacts and most importantly people lost homes.
My photoshoot was focussed in St Clements where the storm hit badly and my focus was on the trees that were damaged but I also took some of various buildings. I focussed on forest areas such as La Blinerie which is a lane that is along side the golf course. I also photographed some of the golf damage as well.
I think I could’ve done better by going further around the island for damaged as I only focussed on where I live so I didn’t get all the damage. I think also it would’ve benefitted me if I had taken the photos earlier on as by the time I began taking photos, the damage had already began being cleared.
Gender wars is the idea that men and women should be against each other and not equal. The idea that one gender is superior to the other (usually men).
Culture wars- Culture wars is when different groups have different beliefs and values and there are arguments and conflicts that happen because of these different opinions.
A well known and recent example of culture wars would be the black lives matter protest which gained most attraction in 2020 after George Floyds death.
This Gained the movement popularity because it really showed the racism within the police force in America and how people of colour were extremely mistreated. This is because a video came out filming George Floyds arrest where a police officer put his knee on George’s neck cutting of his airway which killed him. The officers were aware that he could not breath as he did say that multiple times but they did not care nor did the listen.
Due to this horrific act these protests started and gain a lot of popularity to the point where a poll in America came out and statics showed that 15 million to 26 million people participated in these black lives matter protests.
However these protests upset mainly American conservatives who believed that this movement was wrong and though it should be “All Lives Matter” and a big celebrity Kanye West also wore a “white lives matter” tee shirt. These completely make fun of the whole BLM movement because everyone one is important but its not like white people are struggling with prejudice or anything like that so we don’t need a movement.
Here used a photographic method to increase the dynamic range of my photos, I will apply this method on my next photoshoot.
It works by taking 3 or more photos, one with a exposure unit of 0, and other photos with a higher and lower exposure level (the aperture is kept constant but the shutter speed changes). You are now left with multiple photos of the same scene that capture every detail of the image (including the darkest shadows and the brightest parts of the sky). To make sure each image is taken is in the exact same place you use a tripod and a external shutter release. Then you follow this process:
Collect the images with different exposure levels.
Use HDR merge (High dynamic range) and set Deghost to high (removes ghosting effect that is caused from wind normally).
The image on the right is the HDR merged image and looks much more vibrant and full of life.
For my first photoshoot, I am planning on taking inspiration from Robert Mapplethorpe’s project body parts where he did close up photos of the male body and then edited them into black and white.
I want to do something similar however I’m going to try and do close ups of both the mascilin body and the feminine body. I want to show the natural differences between the more masculine sharp lines and the feminine soft curves.
photoshoot 2–
For my second photoshoot I am inspired by Duane Michals and his magic mirror project. For these he used a distorted mirror and had the model move it slightly which created these interesting effects he then later edited them and put them in black and white.
I will be doing my work slightly differently to his though because he didn’t use editing for the that distorted effect however I will be. Then like his work i will be editing it into black and white.
Photoshoot 3–
This photoshoot is inspired by Cindy Sherman and specifically her “untitled film stills” where she took photos heavily inspired by sterotypical women and their jobs like housewives and then later worked women.
My photos are going to be very similar to hers the plan is to do take pictures based on what i think your sterotypical house wife would be doing like washing the dishes etc… Then i think during editing i will edit them in black and white like her work because for this project she doesn’t have any of her work in colour.
Photoshoot 4-
For this last photoshoot the idea behind it is to take photos inspired by Lauren Withrow. She takes these beautiful photos of usually women outside and they have such a calming and feminine feel to them.
For my photos i will be going out to a field to get some images like hers with nature and i will also try and find some plants similar to one the one above because i really like the effect of her being surrounded by the plants.
Born on February 20, 1902, Ansel grew up in a house situated on the dunes west of San Francisco. In his early life he proved to be a ambitious musician. However, once he received his first camera in 1916, he slowly transitions from a musician to a photographer. He created his first visualized photograph in 1927, Monolith, the Face of Half Dome. This photo shows the mountain rising from an ink-black sky, its face illuminated by a dazzling midday sun just out of frame. Though Ansel initially made an exposure using a yellow filter, he immediately swapped that for a dark red filter, which darkened the sky and produced the deep shadows and bright light we recognize in the final image. He met many photographers that influenced his work, and changed his style away from the ‘pictorial’ (photos that look like paintings) and more towards the ‘straight photography’. And by 1935, he was famous in the photographic community.
He was apart of the sierra club and eventually because the sierra clubs official photographer – the worlds oldest environmental preservation societies. He proposed improving parts and wilderness areas, becoming known for both an artist and a representative of Yosemite national park. In his time, he managed to prevent the building of a dam in the national park (kings canyon), by convicting congress to preserve the natural environment. He was considered on the Americas most influential conservationists and received a presidential medal.
Kings canyon national park
Ansel Adams and the “group f/64” rebelled against the pictorialism photography. Ansel Adams states below what the mission of “group f/64” was, and how revolutionary it was: “It was devotion to the straight print, paper surfaces without textures that would conflict with the image texture. It was a belief in sharpness throughout the photograph. Good craft, in other words. F/64 is a small stop on the camera that gives great depth of field and sharpness.
Monolith, the Face of Half Dome – yosemite national park (1927)
He’s now considered to be the most important landscape photographer of the 20th century. His popularly has only increased after his death, as it shows the countries remaining fragments of uninhabited wilderness(especially national parks), which is only becoming more rare as time moves on.
monochromatic photography:
Monochromatic photography is a style of photography that relies on the use of one colour, in one or more shades, to create an image. Ansel Adams used monochromatic images in Black and white to bring out depth and high contrast in his images. Using one colour allowed Adams to focus on light and shadows, as well as lines and shapes. This can create an image that is highly stylized and that has a unique and memorable look.
Visualisation:
Ansel Adam began visualising his whole photo after he starting taking photography seriously. The idea behind this concept was to visualize in your minds eye the end result that you were trying to achieve prior to actually taking the photograph. An example may be finding the best camera angle, or the sort of light that will bring the best out of the scene, Or for professionals, Envisioning the whole image, creating an imaginary image in your head of the whole composition, colour, leading lines, and more. Of course, Some areas of the photograph may not look like how you envisioned it, so Ansel Adams might of changed the lens, colour filter, burning (increases exposure) and dodging (decreases exposure in areas).
The zone system:
The 11 zones were defined to represent the gradation of all the different tonal values you would see in a black and white print, with zone 5 being middle grey, zone 0 being pure black (with no detail), and zone 10 being pure white (with no detail).
When Ansel Adams spitted his image into different zones, He was able to visualise how the scene in front of him can be translated into black and white film. By doing this you wont leave out any detail as there would be less pure black and white in his images.
Photograph analysis – The Grand Tetons And The Snake River
Taken in 1942, in the Grand Teton National Park, It strikes the viewer with a sense of power created by nature.
This 1942 photograph was originally conceived as part of The Mural Project for the US Department of the Interior, which Adams worked through one trip during the fall of 1941 and another in May and June of 1942. The project was initially planned to celebrate the US’s National Parks system in a suite of large-scale mural-sized prints, that would have lined the walls of the Department of the Interior building, separate from, but in concert with, the pre-existing painted WPA murals already installed.
Adams offers a masterclass in compositional balance, The bright shimmering river that swerve from the bottom right on the image, all the way to the centre, which acts as leading lines towards the mountains. This is juxtapositioning with the craggy and dramatic peaks of the Tetons, Topped with brooding storm clouds, giving drama in the image. The storm could break within seconds of Adams taking this photo, or it could pass, giving the viewer a sense of tension when seeing the image.
I used a method of HDR Merging which involves 3 or more of the same picture but at different contrasts and exposures. This is done by a tool on the camera which we set to 16/f-stop and used a shutter release with instead of taking the photo on the actual camera because we needed the photo to be still and in the same place for each photo and with any contact on the camera it would of moved it, even with a tripod.
After I took photos of different landscapes with the 3 exposures for each photo, I uploaded it to my Lightroom, selected all 3 photos that I want to merge, selected ‘photo merge’, then ‘HDR’.
After pressing this, it will load a merged photo of all the photos you selected keeping the best parts of each photo into one photo.
There is 4 types of Deghost amount, None, Low, Medium and High. These also change the exposure of the photos highlighting different sections depending if you want a brighter photo or a darker photo.
After I merged all of them and selected the high one which I thought was the best as it had all the good features from each photo but I still thought it needs to be more exposed as it was still too bright for my liking.
This was my final result which I really like because of how the grass is very green and really pops out but the whole photo is also not too bright which sets a nice mood for the photo.
I also realised that all these other HDR photos online aren’t really what the photographer sees in real life, it is all down to their camera editing and photo merging to create this aesthetic, colourful photo for the audience to enjoy.
Another example photo I took, was of these 3 goal posts stood next to each other all equal distances apart.
I tried two different edits, starting with number 1 which was the photo merging at different levels of Deghost.
So started with Low Deghost.
Then Medium.
Then High.
After I merged them all into one photo, I still felt as if the merged photo was still missing some exposure and contrast, so I manually edited it and I used these edits.
These are the settings I used for most of the photos. With a low iso and high f stop with a shutter speed that will capture the photos quickly enough to be in complete focus without having to compensate with the iso.
The contact sheet above contains all the photos from this particular location. I have used green to mark the best photos and yellow to mark ones with possible potential, and then red for any shots that I don’t like. Along side this I have used a start rating system to give me an idea of the best photos and the ones that have possible potential.
Edit One
I have used the adobe monochrome setting to help produce this high contrast black and white image. Inspired by Ansel Adam’s work I have increased the contrast by using a variety of adjustment settings. I wanted to create a visible difference between the tree tops and the trunks/ground with the tops of the trees being a lot lighter it has highlighted the interesting patterns and vastness of the landscape. I kept Adam’s zone theory in mind looking for the pure white and pure black and the other 9 grey colours in between.
Edit Two
Moving onto my next edit I started by changing the adjustments under the adobe monochrome settings and then moved on to using the brush tools. It took a couple of attempts to achieve the results I wanted. I started with a small brush size and and way too low exposure on the brush settings, after trying a couple of different adjustments I settled on a minimally low exposure adding depth and shadow to the highlighted areas. This stopped any harsh or visible editing lines while adding further shadow that the normal adjustments could not.
Edit Three
This I think is one of my best raw photos from this shoot. So to edit this I made sure I highlighted the best parts that were naturally lighter like the light green grass. I started by again changing the image to Adobe Monochrome and then looking to use the adjustment sliders to increase the contrast before looking at increasing things like the texture. I increased the texture to add more detail back into the image as it was a bit flat when I turned it black and white.
Edit Four
Removing the electrical box
Adjustment HistoryBrush adjustments
This photo was flat and boring before as while the green and brown colours were accurate the sky was over exposed. I started by doing the same with changing it to Adobe Monochrome, and then adjusting the sliders to increase contrast. This did improve the image but it didn’t do enough so I then went onto using the brush tool again to add depth into the sky, bringing the texture and shape of the clouds back into the image.
Edit Five
Pure Black
Example of range of colours in Adam’s ‘zone theory’ I have in my photo pure black and then around colour 9 on the chart of light grey.
This is the final photo I edited for this shoot. I liked how the trees went up the hill and wanted to again repair the clouds so they were truer to real life. Repeating the same process I did with the other photos and then using the brush tool to create a deeper black in places and a softer grey. I then used the eyedropper tool to see how different I to the contrast and I manged to get pure black and close to pure white including a range of the scale of colours, in the zone system, in between.
