Comparative Study: Photography Masters Chelsea Sayles

International: Ansel Adams Ansel Adams was born February 20, of 1902 and died April 22, 1984. He was born in San Francisco CA where he was surrounded by 34 of the most beautiful and influentials National parks in the United States. At the young age of 14, Adams visited Yosemite National Park for the first time and was inspired by the nature and the concept of preserving remaining wildlife. It was this trip that became the birthplace for his love of landscape photography. His love for nature was his motivation to become one of the most influential photographers an active environmentalist. Adams expressed his views and concerns about the environment through his black and white images. For the rest of his years he visited National Parks but Yosemite held a special place in his heart.

Process and Techniques: Ansel Adams When setting up an image Admas would travel great distances and wait hours for the sun to hit a certain point in the sky. He would place the camera father back to capture greater amounts of the landscape. In the vast majority of his work from the 1920s and the 1930s, he places the horizon higher in the frame. This technique creates scale. In the image Moonrise from Glacier Point, Adam’s payed close attention to where his horizon line was. The horizon line is higher in the image giving the viewer a broader and greater scale of the image. This gives the feeling of being higher up in the image. While in his earlier image Yosemite Valley Bridge it is lower in the sky creating a compact image. This also creates the perception that the viewer is looking at the image from a lower standpoint. About 50% of Adam's process was done inside a dark room. During the developing process Adams was he known for his techniques of burning and dodging an image. To burn an image he would simply place an opaque object over an enlarged lens and the paper. Then he would place light on the exposed parts of the image that needed to be darkened. To dodge or lighten up an image, another opaque object would be placed over the lens to block light from the portion of the image that needs to be lightened. This is a negative to positive technique. He called this process the zone system. Horizon line Moonrise from Glacier Point 1948 Horizon line Yosemite Valley Bridge 1934

Local Artist: Sally Mann Sally Mann was born in Lexington Virginia on May 1st, 1951. She was first introduced to photography while forced to stay in bed due to a horse accident. In that time Maan took countless of self portraits. Throughout her life she was always influenced by the American South and is known for her landscape images and photographs of her family. As Mann matured, so had her photography. She went from photographing nature to some of the most controversial and talked images of her children. Immediate Family was published in 1992 and quickly became one of the most controversial books. It touches on the subject of child independence by using her three children as the subjects ( all under the age of 10). Most people did not like the image because the children were naked and dirty. Critiques felt as if she was exposing her children or felt she was sexualizing them. Pat Robertson a critique from the Christian Broadcasting Network said, “selling photographs of children in their nakedness for profit is an exploitation of the parental role and I think it’s wrong.” While other thought it was a breath of fresh air. Immediate Family became so popular that the children acquired a stalker. As the children grew up they were less willing to be in the images and eventually Mann stopped.

Process and Techniques : Sally Mann When taking her images she uses broken lenses and a camera that requires her to use her hand or an object as a shutter. By having the broken lens it gives the image a rustic and antique look that she is known for. She uses a technique that dates back to the 1850s called collodion or wet plate collodion. This is when the negative is developed on glass instead of the traditional film. Mann is very specific with the materials she uses for each negative. When picking out the glass, it must be framing glass and cleaned with a special glass wax. The chemicals must be fresh and the water must be distilled. The whole process take about 15 to 20 minutes. By choosing to develop her film on glass, it gives the image a dream like feel. This technique makes the image sharp in the center and fades towards the edges of the glass. Also because of the broken lens she uses it creates a rustic old fashion look. The last time Emmett modeled nude (1987)

Comparing and Contrasting: Process and Techniques Mann Adams Developed her images using the collodion process Adam's developed a style named Zone System. Allowing him to have complete control over the image. Developed in the Dark Room Payed close attention to the horizon line Images took minutes to de developed Very specific with how they wanted the images to turn out Images took a full day to develop Images developed on glass Images developed on film

Adams Usage of Color/Saturation When comparing the lack of color and high saturation in the shades of black in Yosemite Valley Bridge and Moonrise from Glacier Point there is a drastic difference in the tone of black and white. There is a more prominent difference in Moonrise from Glacier Point. This is because Adams has tonal contrast, where the is a difference in tones for the lightest tome to the darkest tone. While in Yosemite Valley Bridge there are more grey tone shades. Moonrise from Glacier Point 1948 Yosemite Valley Bridge 1934

Color and Saturation: Sally Mann In comparison to the images from Adams, Maan also has rich and saturated black in her prints. She also has tonal contrast. What is different is the brown hue the print gives off. This could be because of the old 1900 camera she uses. The last time Emmett modeled nude (1987)

Comparing and Contrasting: Color and Saturation Mann Adams In The last time Emmett modeled nude (1987) the print has a brown hue. This could possibly be because of the type of camera used Highly Saturated images Monochome Rich Blacks Tonal contrast

Time of Day : Ansel Adams Adams use of light depended on the time of day Yosemite valley bridge and Moonrise from Glacier Point have a higher exposure, therefore more light was able to be captured Moonrise from Glacier Point appears to have a lower exposure but that’s false. It appears darker because of the time of day. He sets up camp and waits hours until the lighting is perfect, then he only takes approximately two images.

Time of Day: Sally Mann When Mann took her images, they were very spontaneous. She captured real life events of her family. Although these events were real, the time period she took them was not. For example in the image of her son Emmett in the boat, he did fall out of the boat when they visited their cabin ,but she did not take the photograph the image after he got back up. They went back for months and recreated the image until it was perfection.

Comparing and Contrasting: Time of Day Mann Adams Planned the location of the image Takes her images over a long period of time. Most images are reenactments of past events Took only two images Takes the images in different times each day until the lighting is just perfect

Camera Choice: Ansel Adams Adams uses a Polaroid Land (a.k.a SX-70) for his images. For the Yosemite series he used a Linhof. Made in Munich Germany, this is the first camera with a shutter. Because it was film it took higher quality black and white images then a more modern camera would. Although Adams experimented with many different camera and lenses, this one was the specific camera used for the Yosemite National Park Series.

Camera Choice: Sally Mann Maan uses and old camera from the 1900 where you have to stand under a cloth. The one she used was so old that she used her hands to mimic the shutter. Mann spends hours in antique shops looking for older camera that are damaged. She also chose to use broken and lightly damaged lenses so each print has a 1900 feel to them.

Cultural Context Ansel Adams He is an environmentalist Activist of several conservation groups Has influenced congressmen, cabinet officers and Presidents on behalf of wilderness values. Wants his work to be socially significant Sally Mann Focuses on child development Uses her children and her home in Virginia to show childhood experiences Has her children naked to show innocence

Sources http://www.biography.com/people/ansel-adams-9175697#early-life http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/ansel/sfeature/sf_packing.html http://www.anseladams.com/ansel-adams-information/ansel-adams-biography/ https://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/historyculture/ansel-adams.htm http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowledge-center/brightness-contrast-saturation-and-sharpness.html#b https://expertphotography.com/10-photography-lessons-from-ansel-adams/ http://www.npr.org/2011/02/17/133595585/from-lens-to-photo-sally-mann-captures-her-love http://www.art21.org/texts/sally-mann/interview-sally-mann-collodion-process http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/magazine/the-disturbing-photography-of-sally-mann.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/magazine/the-disturbing-photography-of-sally-mann.html http://sallymann.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/2016_PressPacket.pdf