The Dam

I couldn't let the evening pass without sharing yet another gorgeous image from Adams' Mural Project collection.  It's Image 3 from the DOI.gov slideshow, Boulder Dam, Colorado River, Nevada / Arizona Border, 1942, National Archives no. 79-AAB-4 Ansel Adams.

This image is unlike many from his Mural Project work in the national parks, in that it focuses on a man-made wonder.  So much of his work is of the more natural type.  But this was part of the assignment.  Human creation is worth celebrating, and this dam is a truly immense and valuable creation.

Now, here's where it gets surprising: see the tiny specks near the top of the bridge.  Go ahead -- check them out.  I'll wait.

Still waiting...

Alright, time's up.

My colleague Ron pointed out to me how fine the new scans are.  Check out this enlargement of the top edge of the dam:

People.  We can see people -- and their cars -- on the dam.  Credit Adams' large-format camera and his fine workmanship.

Can I get a "Wow?"

The Dam

Aesthetic Approach & Rationale

As part of pre-production, I've been watching a boatload of documentaries, or at least segments of them, in search of inspiration for the aesthetic approach I would take with The Mural Project Movie.  Among them, these three stand out:

• American Experience: Ansel Adams (2002), Ric Burns.
• The film mixes color film with a significant proportion of black & white images -- something that practicality will no doubt demand I use for The Mural Project Movie. As our film is about a series of B&W photographs and their journey (creation to printing to obscurity to unveiling), it seems natural that much of the film would include shots of those images. To do otherwise would be like having a movie about sharks without using the shark in most of the movie... Ah, wait -- perhaps I should re-think this strategy. Again, practicality will no doubt demand significant use of existing images.

• Ansel Adams: Photographer (1981), John Huszar.
• The film is composed primarily of motion images in color, so I didn't find that particularly helpful. However, I did appreciate the film's use of music and natural sound, especially at the open. I think it will be helpful to remember to obtain pristine natural sound when gathering images and video of Adams' locations. I should probably also check to see if use of any of Adams' voice from this film or others would be considered "fair use."

• The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009), Ken.Burns.
• Although I find most of the film's resources to be so far beyond my own as to be inaccessible and unhelpful, certain segments make use of black & white still photographs, sometimes integrated with more modern footage.

I have three primary categories of visual elements to consider: interviews, scenics and Adams originals.

• Adams originals are fixed. I can roam across the images with digital Ken Burns-type effects, but the color, texture, content, etc. are as they are. I won't be tweaking Adams' work.
• Scenic videography is intended to dissolve to and from Adams' work. As such, we should follow Adams' style of framing and scale, whenever possible.
• Interviews. I'm torn over interviews. It's a bit old-fashioned to do traditional sit-down interviews, but they do make life easier when you're trusting a remote shooter to get a particular interview on your behalf. If possible, I'd like to get a more naturalistic look at the interviewee interacting with the subject matter in the real world, Jeanne Moos-style.

That's it for now.  More thoughts later.

Aesthetic Approach & Rationale

Hello Facebook!

I'm biting the bullet tonight, taking my thesis adviser's advice and advertising on Facebook.  At least I think I am.  I've created a small ad, but the system seems to have hung on Paypal registration -- twice.  Ah well, I'll get it sussed soon enough.

So, if you've found this blog through a Facebook ad, welcome.  If you've found it through some other means, also welcome.  The blog is meant to chronicle the creative process in producing a short "film" (HD video, really) on the once-lost works of Ansel Adams, commonly called The Mural Project.

Here's the trick.  I think the film could really use some fresh footage from the national park locations that Adams used to create his amazing images -- and that takes a budget. College films, even those produced by middle-aged men with day jobs, don't often get funded by the NEA; so I'm raising road-trip money through the oldest profession: selling t-shirts, ties and posters.

Oh, and a warm welcome to fellow alumni of New York's Excelsior College.  Thank you for clicking on the Facebook ad.  I graduated from Excelsior's BA program (political science & sociology) back when the school was still called Regents College.  Excelsior/Regents students almost all have stories behind their degrees.  For me, it's earning most of the credits and graduating while on active duty with the U.S. Army in Korea.

Stay a while.  Leave a comment.  Buy a tie.  They make great Father's Day gifts.

Hello Facebook!

No Mural Sneakers

Is it too much to promise that I won't be designing any Mural Project Movie sneakers?  I think not.  So, here goes: I promise to avoid disrespecting Ansel Adams by creating sneakers with his large-format photographic images on them -- at least until someone convinces me otherwise.

In the mean time, I will continue to appreciate the support of folks who help out the film by purchasing a t-shirt or tie (or two).

BTW, Father's Day just screams for ties, doesn't it?  I'll post a new one tonight.

No Mural Sneakers

What about the Grand Tetons & Snake River?

Excellent question.

Check out the first image in this sequence from the Adams Gallery website.  It's a 1942 photo of "The Tetons and Snake River" from the Gallery's Ansel Adams - America's National Parks slideshow.

Now, check out this image from DOI.gov.

It goes without saying that they're pretty similar.  One might easily confuse the two, perhaps opining that the only difference was one of burning and dodging (allowing more or less light to various regions of the original photographic paper during the printing process) or (in our digital world) a bit of Photoshop.

Not true.  Check out the clouds.  The sky is materially different, not just tonally tweaked.  See the little T-shaped darkness, just above and to the left of the central peak?  It's not present in the Gallery's image.

Now, before the Photoshop fans get in an uproar, I'm perfectly aware that any modern image manipulation software could easily be used to swap clouds; however, let's all agree that neither the National Archives, nor the Adams Gallery, would be a likely suspect for such behavior.  So, once again, what we have are distinct images of the same subject.

The Gallery's image is triumphant, with the sun's glow illuminating the peaks and snow, "grandly" if you'll pardon the pun.  As for the National Archives/Interior image -- well, I can't help but think, "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night."

Mea culpa.

What about the Grand Tetons & Snake River?