Kind Of

I am pleased to learn that although my photographic talents are not in the league of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Ansel Adams, at least my thinking is. In 1952, Cartier-Bresson published his book Images à la sauvette. The English edition was titled The Decisive Moment, not The Machine Gun.

It is easy to fall into a machine gun approach, a style favored by so many photographers today, particularly with digital photography, where shooting is essentially free. For many, there is a secure in thinking that if you take enough photos, you will assuredly get a good one.

Remarkably, Bresson believed in composing his photographs completely in the camera's viewfinder, not in the darkroom - nearly all his photographs are printed only at full-frame and completely free of any cropping or other darkroom manipulation. Ansel Adams was notorious for his patience and circumspection in waiting for the right moment take a photograph.

In addition, the entire process of shooting in a machine gun approach and reviewing hundreds of photos is mind numbing and works against the production of interesting photographs. When shooting events like parades, I am lured into this practice, seeing the event as an opportunity at cataloging and results that show it, with very few, if any, memorable photos.

I recall having a conversation with a student at a major art school in New York City who was near completion of a degree in photography. When I asked about Ansel Adams, I was told they were not familiar with his work and only "kind of" heard of him - they did not study him at school. I found it incredulous really. This is not an issue of likes or dislikes. How can you give some one a degree in photography and at not do at least a cursory examination of Ansel Adams?

The black-and-white photographs of the American West by Ansel Adams are recognizable around the world. With Fred Archer, Adams developed the Zone System, still in use by some today and applicable to color and digital photography. He has been the subject of a Ric Burns PBS documentary. In 1932, Adams formed Group f/64 with Edward Weston. Adams played a key role in the establishment of the first museum department of photography, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. You can find the websites of Ansel Adams here and here. The website of Henri Cartier-Bresson is here.

The conversation with the photography student prompted me to notice the framed poster in today's photo, placed prominently near a garbage can on Broadway in NoHo. Apparently the owner had heard of Ansel Adams and disposing of this poster was due to the apparent water damage and not any "kind of" statement about Adams :)