ansel admas and yosemite

[tim]

Hi there,
I'm making a trip over to Yosemite in a few months and
wanted to indulge my pasison for two things while I am there -
photography and Ansel Adams.

Can anyone tell me if they have any information on some of the exact
locations Adams used for his famous photographs of the area, or if I
could locate the data elsewhere?

I'm a fairly accomplished photographer, but one can never stop
learning from the masters, and it would be an interesting excercise to
try and find the sites and see how and why he chose specific points
to turn his vision into photographic masterpieces. Just as art
students often spend time at museums copying the work of masters as a
learning process, I sometimes think the serious student of photography
can learn via the same process, locating sites, taking in the
surrounds and trying to conceive what lay behind the photographer's
choice of a particular spot, and of course trying to duplicate the
process, which in itself can be quite an instrucitve process - often
one finds that attempting to repeat the process is nowhere near as
easy it may have appeared in the master photographer's output. It
gives one an even greater appreciation for their efforts.

Thanks....Tim

[Bill H]

>I'm making a trip over to Yosemite in a few months and
>wanted to indulge my pasison for two things while I am
>there - photography and Ansel Adams.

The Gallery that he and his wife Virginia used to run is still there
and one of the finest photography galleries in the west ("The Ansel
Adams Gallery" ... look it up on the web to see what they now carry).
I would advise you to stop by there for sure, they carry current photos
by several modern masters (some of whom studied with Ansel) and also
fairly inexpensive reprints of some of Ansel's images, plus of course
posters of his work.

>Can anyone tell me if they have any information on some of the exact
>locations Adams used for his famous photographs of the area

Ansel's book "Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs" has some detailed
info on maybe 8-10 of his most famous Yosemite shots, including where
to go to repeat them. In addition to the many opportunities from the
valley floor, there's an overlook near a tunnel on one of the entrace
roads ("Clearing Winter Storm" image), there's Glacier Point (looking
back toward Half Dome) and there are the waterfalls accessed from the
Half Dome trailhead near Happy Isles. The problem isn't finding where
he took the shots, it's getting exceptional light and shooting
something that hasn't been shot several thousand times before, but it's
a lovely place.

If you're up for a stiff hike I recommend the hike up the back of Half
Dome to the summit, about 8 miles to the top, around 5,000 ft elevation
... incredible views.

Bill

[xyz]

Bear in mind that much has changed in all years since Adams was shooting
there. Some views are partially or substantially hidden by tree growth, and
public traffic has caused the park to limit access to some areas.

Yosemite conducts photography walks, usually twice or three times a week.
Check into it - depending on the guide, you may get a few of his locations
pointed out. Even if that doesn't happen, you'll get a very good guided
tour from a photographer's viewpoint.

[Warren]

Bear in mind that much has changed in all years since Adams was shooting
there. Some views are partially or substantially hidden by tree growth, and
public traffic has caused the park to limit access to some areas.

Yosemite conducts photography walks, usually twice or three times a week.
Check into it - depending on the guide, you may get a few of his locations
pointed out. Even if that doesn't happen, you'll get a very good guided
tour from a photographer's viewpoint.

In the late 1980s I remember hiking up a trail going up the side of the
valley above the pullout at the tunnel, and stumbling on what looked like an
abondoned road, complete with a curb and a parking area. It had a
spectacular view of the valley with a tall silvery dead pine in the
foreground that looed very "Ansel Adams". The picture is on my wall, though
I've never scanned it. I wondered whether this was a spot that was the
location of many photos taken in the past and now only accessible to hikers.
It wasn't an arduous hike, but as I recall it took a half an hour of uphill
hiking to get there.