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?

Leaves

I've been comparing images, this evening.  The Ansel Adams Gallery has an excellent online gallery featuring images from America's National Parks.  I thought there might be a chance the gallery would contain elements of The Mural Project -- and for a minute there, late this fine evening, I thought this was it.

Check out the third image from the end, "Leaves, Glacier Bay."  It's gorgeous, naturally.

Now, check out the National Archives' image of a similar name (right): 

It's possibly less gorgeous when displayed at the Archives' full size, but here, displayed at comparable size to the Gallery's presentation, there appears to be more detail.  It certainly possesses greater contrast.

It may be worthwhile to compare both to the image on display at DOI.gov (below).  This fresh scan of the Archives' print (perhaps a visit to the National Archives is in order -- what are the odds they'll let me see the original, to compare to the Interior images?) has perhaps less contrast than the Gallery's image (the major leaf is certainly less exposed), but it contains remarkable detail.

In the end, these are of three images based on two distinct negatives (probably scanned from two distinct prints).  I hope I can be forgiven my momentary confusion, bone-headed though it might have been.

They are each remarkable works.

Leaves

... and Georgia O'Keefe

I was browsing through Amazon.com tonight, looking for Adams-related items, when I came across Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities.

It's not often I wish for a wish-list, but this book isn't yet in the Interior Library.  I used the "Look Inside" feature to get a glimpse of the beginning of Affinities, but not quite enough to determine if it includes any of O'Keefe's reaction to Adams' work on The Mural Project.

Time for an inter-library loan?

... and Georgia O'Keefe