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 Source: yosemite.ca.us |
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"In the history of American conservation, few have worked as long and as effectively to preserve wilderness and to articulate the "wilderness idea" as Ansel Adams." Source: Wilderness Society from The Living Wilderness, March 1980, by Robert Turnage Why was Ansel Adams revered by Americans as no other artist or conservationist has been? William Turnage explains: "More than any other influential American of his epoch, Adams believed in both the possibility and the probability of humankind living in harmony and balance with its environment."
A half-century later, "Monolith--the Face of Half Dome" remains one of Adams ' most compelling studies. It bears clear witness to that "pointed awareness of the light" which he experienced on the ridge of Mt. Clark .
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One spring day in 1927 he perched precariously on a cliff with his camera and the unwieldy photographic glass plates of the day. He hoped to capture an imposing perspective of the face of Half Dome, the snow-laden high country and a crystal-clear sky. Only two unexposed plates remained. With one he made a conventional exposure. Suddenly, he realized that he wanted an image with more emotional impact. "I knew so little about photography then, it was a miracle I got anything. But that was the first time I realized how the print was going to look--what I now call visualization--and was actually thinking about the emotional effect of the image...I began to visualize the black rock and deep sky. I really wanted to give it a monumental, dark quality. So I used the last plate I had with a No. 29-F red filter...and got this exciting picture."