Beschreibung
A LONG LETTER TO A FELLOW PHOTOGRAPHER WITH REVEALING TECHNICAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESS. Written by Adams to fellow photographer Nicholas Dean, this letter engages many topics: first listing off a variety of impressive engagements and exhibits the two were involved with at the time, then settling finally on a detailed section on photographic techniques and tips. Adams explains first that he was arranging the logistics of a film about his life with art curator Beaumont (Newhall) which had been officially released the year before (1958). Then Adams goes on to congratulate Dean for his recent exhibition - a collection of photographs of the Boston Symphony Orchestra - and makes reference to an article called "Swell Egg" written in The New Yorker in October 1953 about the important American landscape photographer Paul Caponigro. Even in the first sentences, it becomes clear how well-ensconced Adams was in the photography world, how up-to-date he was with new developments and exhibits, for "photography was his calling, his métier, his raison d'être." ( Britannica ). Yet, what Adams seems most particularly interested in in this letter, however, is the light meter. These analog devices were used by photographers to 'read' the light in a situation, and then transfer the exposure information to a camera. Here, Adams makes reference specifically to the Weston meter - the most popular instrument of use by professionals at the time. In a marvelous moment of self-reference, the photographer uses the term "Zone VI value," while trying to explain to Dean how non-Weston meters misrepresent optimal "brightnesses." These "zone values" (numbered 0-X) were, in fact, formulated by Adams and Fred Archer, another celebrated American photographer, as part of the Zone System, a photographic technique for determining optimal film exposure and development. Based on a meticulous study of sensitometry (scholarship around which reached as far back as the 19th century) and written up extensively by Adams in one of his ten manuals (The Negative), the Zone System allowed for photographers to define a relationship between the way they visualized the photographic subject and the final results. This invention became so widely-used that starting in 1966, the scale was printed directly onto the Weston light meters. Adam's counsel to Dean, moreover, extended beyond the pre-photographic moment of light measurement. At the top of the letter are a series of instructions on how to develop photos - what developer to use, how long to sit in the water, at what angle to place the photograph in the tray. What this letter brings clearly to the fore, then, is Adam's "technical mastery [.] More than any creative photographer, before or since, he reveled in the theory and practice of the medium." ( The Ansel Adams Gallery ). The letter, typed on one 8.5x11 inch sheet of Adams's stationery with "ANSEL ADAMS" printed in red in large type at the top and his San Francisco address below it to the right, is dated December 7 '59 and reads in full: Dear Nick - - Good to get your two letters. This is just a rush reply because they are working out that Television movie with me (Beaumont is here) and things are hectic! Your picture which I returned was excellent ! Cheers for Symp. Hall exhibit! Camponiegro [sic] swell egg - have 3 prints of his for Polaroid collection. This "reading-in" business - Brrrrrrr!! You are still a bit haywire with the Meter business !!! The Weston is a pretty accurate device to read brightness in c/ft2. Pointing the meter down is merely a crutch and would help only with dark-gray pavement or grass. The fact that other meters give accurate readings when the Weston gives 1/2 optimum reading merely shows that those other meters are calibrated to overcome the statistical "average" brightnesses. However - read a single gray (or white, or dark) surface with those other meters and you will get near Zone VI value. The question is merely this - do you w. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 2399
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