Ansel Adams, Self Portrait
I wanted to do something that would allow me to listen to the Kagan hearings, so one of the magic bottomless storage shelves yielded a collection of 1960′s Ansel Adams letters — mostly correspondence with Beaumont Newhall, his longtime friend and director of the George Eastman House/International Museum of Photography. So I’m scanning them, wondering what next.
The letters are workaday, about exhibits going up — thoughts about technique, lists of photos with notations of film, filters, developing formulas, lenses, zones; his self-critiques. The photo above (about 1962) is among the papers we have.
I LOVE people demonstrating their craft. I love being reminded that successful artists aren’t just about inspiration — they know how to get their act together. They finish the process. They follow through. I love being a witness to that.
Car and I just painted the breeze way and talked about getting an Ansel Adams print for one wall. Any favorites? BTW you get into the most interesting shi*, er history!
I’m not the aesthete in the family, only the scanning & sales lackey. Everyday is an adventure here, depending on what the Magic Maw burps up.