I am so excited!!!

[Molly97]

My primary creative outlet is photography. And I have a particular love affair with black and white. To say that Ansel Adams is my mentor is putting it mildly.

The Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa will be the home to a collection of 140 photographs of Ansel Adams from now through the 4th of January 2009. He personally picked these photographs and printed them himself.

What an incredible opportunity for me! I've got prints, I've got books, I've got calendars. But to see each photograph as he himself printed it is just the event of a lifetime for me. The collection comes from a private collector in the Dallas area.

I don't know when I'm going, but my husband, who likes Ansel as well, has promised me "very soon."

[RobinN]

How exciting Molly.
I am friends with a photographer that studied with Ansel when he was younger. They have photos at their house as well. He was a brilliant visionary.
I think you need to go multiple times, since you have until Jan.
Don't forget to tell us how it was.

[Meetz1064]

neat, Molly....WOW....I'm jealous, but happy for you, too.

Ansel Adams is a really cool photographer. Have a great time, OK?

[Molly97]

Robin,
I am jealous. What a treat your photographer friend had to study with Ansel. I'm afraid that all I have are his books, The Camera, The Negative, The Print, and The Making of 40 Photographs.
I recently watched a PBS documentary on his life. What a legacy he has left!
I'm thinking that once will not do it. Multiple times sounds great.
We are also still going to Yosemite end of September. I understand that there is a gallery there that features Ansel's work as well as others who have attempted to photograph Yosemite. I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

[tinasmom]

Molly - What a wonderful opportunity for you.

[brain]

Absolutely Awesome Molly!



Keep on Clicking!

[Bernard]

[alivenwell]

Wow. Ansel Adams has been one of my idols and his photography is incredible. He documented some of his lighting techniques for some incredible special effects. I also have several books of his artwork.

I just came back from Brandywine, PA and saw Andrew Wyeth's paintings, especially of his dogs. They were so realistic. I'm going back again. I hope you get to go back again to see Ansel Adams' photos after the first trip.

[Molly97]

Bernard,
Great photo, isn't it?
I've read a lot recently that encourages a change in the depth of field to blur either the "too messy" foreground, or background. Ansel never did that. Everything was in focus. I seem to remember that he belonged to the f64 group who was trying to counter the soft focus rage of his day. Seems like it's returned; nothing is new under the sun.

Alivenwell,
I too like Andrew Wyeth. I've never had the opportunity to see any of his work in person.

[Molly97]

Well, I saw the exhibition finally. It was exciting to see full prints of so many familiar photos that I've seen in his books. I really liked the ones that were more abstract and more contrasty.
Funny thing though. I used to think that the be all and end all of photography was black and white images. I'm getting to where I am really "taken with" color, in clothing, in the landscape, in my home. I had developed a habit of not really looking at things because I was well-aware of my propinsity to be visually over-stimulated. And black and white photography took that element out of the equation for me photographically in my images that I took. I know that I am highly triggered into seizures via visual stimulation.

So, I've changed. Ansel Adams? Still a great photographer. Just not the only game in town for me any more.