Absorbing beauty

A night out, I headed to the Museum of Fine Arts with friends to see the Ansel Adams exhibit. I really like his photos, and this is the first time I've had the opportunity to see them in person. I found the media contrast very interesting. In the early days, his photos were printed in sepia tones on textured paper. I have to say that I preferred the prints that were black & white on glossy paper - and there were some examples of the same photo printed in both ways hanging side by side.

I was fascinated by a print of three children, and wondering how he managed to stage the beautiful shot. A note next to the photo said that he borrowed a (fast) camera - one that didn't need his camera's normal setup - from a fellow photographer and took this single shot with it. Amazing.

If you're a fan of Ansel Adams or if you are as fascinated by good photography as I am, this is an exhibit worth seeing.

It was more than a little amazing to me to see images like this one where the tree in the foreground is seen close up and in focus, and yet the beautiful background scenery was still not blurry - even though it didn't have the sharp edges of a targeted focus. How did he do that?

I didn't have a clue that Ansel Adams ever worked in color until I saw this book in the museum bookshop. There were some beautiful photos in the book, some with the same subjects as his B&W shots. The introduction stated that Adams did some color work when Kodachrome was first introduced in the 1930s.