Ansel Adams, Self-Portrait c. 1950 on Polaroid Type 40,
sold at Christie's last year for $9375.
Ansel Adams, who we were discussing just recently, would have been 110 today. He was born on February 20th, 1902 (coincidentally almost an exact contemporary of my grandfather). In five days I'll be half his age*....
Happy Birthday Ansel!
Mike
(Thanks to John Sexton)
*Or, more precisely, in ten days, when he'll be 110 and 10 days and I'll be 55 and five days. Readers wouldn't take me to task for a detail like that, would they? Naw.
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Original contents copyright 2012 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.
I suppose you could call it HB-110 for the master of HC-110.
Posted by: Adam Lanigan | Monday, 20 February 2012 at 01:30 PM
Sweet Jebus.... I'm only a few years younger than he was when he snapped that picture. Is that what we all look like to hot 20 year old women?
Posted by: Dan States | Monday, 20 February 2012 at 01:45 PM
Now, that self-portrait might just be the most humorous photograph by him that I've seen.
Posted by: Zeeman | Monday, 20 February 2012 at 02:26 PM
Glad to see that Ansel was not the only one doing the annoying self-portrait shots at arm's length ;p
Posted by: Pascal Sauvé | Monday, 20 February 2012 at 03:56 PM
I guess that makes you middle aged in Ansel Adam's years. Happy B'day in advance.
Posted by: John MacKechnie | Monday, 20 February 2012 at 04:17 PM
"Ansel Adams, who we were discussing just recently"
That's true on pretty much any day around here. :)
Posted by: Derek Lyons | Monday, 20 February 2012 at 06:51 PM
"Sweet Jebus.... I'm only a few years younger than he was when he snapped that picture. Is that what we all look like to hot 20 year old women?"
Yes, but that assumes they're even looking in the first place.
Posted by: Will Whitaker | Monday, 20 February 2012 at 07:28 PM
Happy birthday Mike, many happy returns!
Posted by: Tim Bishop | Monday, 20 February 2012 at 08:25 PM
I can't believe that photo Ansel took of himself sold for just under $10K. Geez.
Posted by: Eric | Tuesday, 21 February 2012 at 10:51 AM
Yep, happy double nickels, Mike! May you look half that good at 110! ;-)
Posted by: John Nollendorfs | Tuesday, 21 February 2012 at 12:11 PM
Funny how all photographers end up looking the same....
Funny how he LOOKS like my Granddad....
Funny how being famous means even goofing off is worth $9K....
I'm looking more like him every day but I doubt I will ever me famous:) Happy Birthday Mike (when it arrives)!
Posted by: Steve Jacob | Tuesday, 21 February 2012 at 04:28 PM
I'm amused at the bit of perforation that didn't tear and the scrap of paper beyond it (upper right corner of print) that has been preserved all these years. I suppose, at this point, cleaning that up would decrease the value of the piece. I wonder if the price would have been higher or lower if it had torn more cleanly originally?
Posted by: David Dyer-Bennet | Wednesday, 22 February 2012 at 10:08 AM