The Patron Saint of Photographers

Photo by Richard Byrd, 1972

St. Ansel the Energetic

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Photographer, mountain climber, printmaker, teacher, writer, environmentalist, activist, pianist, partier, [alleged] philanderer, good friend to his friends, and the all-purpose paragon of what an art photographer could be, c. mid-20th-century.

I'm not saying Ansel's a hero or that he should be the subject of veneration. My own "Adams phase" pretty much petered out forty years ago, although it was voracious while it lasted (I read everything, learned the Zone System, and got that ultimate telltale, a spot meter). But I'll say one thing for him: he worked really hard and really smart for most of his life, and accomplished a lot in many areas. Energetic indeed.

Sheri caught fire
The little point I wanted to make here is that it's been my observation that many successful photographers of all types have a surfeit of energy and work uncommonly hard. In fact, for a while I thought that some professional photographers chose the profession specifically because they had an excess of energy and were looking for something to soak it up. More mundane jobs didn't demand enough. Such people will do twice or even three times as much work as a normal schmuck and then look around to see what else they can do on top of that. Since then I've met a few pros—especially art photographers—who are more laid back and chilled out, so maybe my old theory doesn't universally hold water. But St. Ansel did more work in a day at 80 years old than most people do when they're 40, I'll bet.

My wonderful art school graduating class has reunited and is regularly talking, but we're missing two members; one is a woman named Sheri to whom I was particularly close. I miss her whenever the rest of us get together. We don't know where she is, or she's declined to answer overtures, we're not exactly sure which. Sheri was a rich girl—her father was a surgeon, if I recall correctly, and she grew up in a gated community, a sheltered upbringing. When we first met she had a languid, unhurried way of approaching work. She was the nicest person in the world, gentle, sweet, and agreeable, but she took her ever-lovin' time over things; it got done if it got done. I actually used to get a little frustrated with her "okay, maybe later" attitude. Then came the Summer after Second Year. She got a Summer job that she hoped would further her photography. She came back from Summer vacation like a changed person! Suddenly she was working like the building was on fire and she couldn't get out till her work was finished. From being a slow, contemplative worker, she was suddenly fired up to finish everything ten minutes ago and get everything done yesterday. She had spent the Summer working for a studio pro. I don't know if he (she? Could have been a woman) taught her much about photography, but her boss sure lit a fire under her! He taught her how to work. She learned well, and she took off. In Second Year (our first year in the photography program), I worked harder than she did. After that Summer, though, she lapped me. I was the one playing catch-up. I can still hear her saying, "Come on," like, chop chop, dude, get moving! 

Whenever anyone used to come to me and ask if they ought to become a full-time photographer, I'd ask them whether they had the energy, skills, and initiative to be the owner-operator of any other small business, like the owner of a gas station or a dry cleaners. I don't know if that would still be a fair test. Maybe. But energy and the ability to work hard consistently is certainly one of the common keys to full-time success. Most of the successful full-time photographers I've known, whether they were photojournalists, art photographers, studio or advertising pros, or public-facing pros like wedding, portrait, and senior photographers, all shared one thing in common: they relished work, and knew how to get a lot done.

Mike

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Featured Comments from:

Kirk: "'It's never work if you love what you do.'"

Albert Smith: "In the '80s, my viewing of Adams' actual photos in a museum in San Diego made me realize that no book or magazine could capture the true perfection of his handmade prints. It was also the time that I realized that my darkroom skills were not very good. If the opportunity comes up to see an actual exhibition, don't miss it."

Mike replies: Yes. Absolutely right. See original work if at all possible. But I would recommend not judging by The Museum Set. Rather inferior late prints made when Ansel's eyesight was beginning to dim and he was unsatisfied with the papers he was able to get.

Scott Abbey: "I’ve observed that hard work is necessary for success in most any field. Unfortunately, it is not sufficient."

John Krumm: "You can read Richard's story of that photo at his very out-of-date blog, here."

Mike replies: That's a wonderful personal account. Thanks for the link!

Geoff Wittig: "I've visited every Ansel Adams exhibit within a reasonable travel radius for about 30 years. What has mostly struck me is how much his printing style changed over time (leaning toward darker and higher contrast), and how variable his prints were. His trilogy of technical books implies that he developed a consistent 'best practices' approach to his selenium-toned art prints. That may well have been his intent. But seen in person his prints demonstrate great variation in value key, contrast, and toning. Some of his 'greatest hits' prints spanned quite a range from dead neutral to warm purplish Selenium. Some are even a bit greenish, despite his avowed loathing for such color in gelatin silver prints.

"I have my own theory. As we age, our color vision changes. Cataracts are nearly universal by age 80, and tend to make our color perception lean warmer. It's imperceptible at first, but progresses with time. I have a very noticeable difference, right eye much cooler/bluer than my left. So I have little doubt that my prints have changed a bit."

Comments

[Terry Burnes]

In fall 1972, then a newlywed Air Force lieutenant, I managed to get tickets to the Bracebridge Dinner, an annual Christmas pageant held at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park, attended mostly by San Francisco's elite, which certainly didn't include me. Ansel Adams had been essentially in charge of that event since 1929 and I believe we attended the last "Adams Bracebridge." This involved a lot of work, as anyone who has attended the dinner will know, and goes to Mike's point about Adams working hard. I suspect Adams did this largely without compensation for forty plus years.

As an aside, after dinner my wife insisted on taking our lovely program up to the front of the hall to get Adams to sign it. I objected that we shouldn't bother this important and famous person, still a hero of mine to this day. But she went anyway and now of course I have that signed program, replete with a couple of Adams photographs, on a table in our living room.

https://www.bracebridgedinners.com/history

[Earl Dunbar]

I bought a spot meter, in fact still have two; one works.

Eventually I ran out of energy, but I will never give up my spot meter(s).

[Josh Hawkins]

For many years while I was a newspaper photographer in the Chicago are I'd enter the state competitions for our press photography group. And every year, one person won top awards in category after category. Over the years of watching and admiring I also got a feel for how he worked, and how much he worked. I love being a photographer, but working as much and as hard as he did, I think still does, would break me. And that's okay. He does great work, and I'm happy to admire it. I'm going to focus on continuing to improve my work within the bounds of what I have to give, what I'm willing to give.

[Anton Wilhelm Stolzing]

I have read a lot about and by Adams. But this is the first time I heard that he may have been a philanderer. LOL.
I always thought he was prudish, just remember his crusade against William Mortensen.

[Patrick Perez]

Fun fact: Fashion photographer Arthur Elgort named his son after Ansel. He starred in the recent West Side Story as Tony.

That is all.

Patrick

[MikeR]

40 years ago, eh? Me too. Built my darkroom in the basement, tried and tried to "be" Ansel, finally threw in the towel. I'm just not anywhere near that good.

I love the digital darkroom!

Btw - I've noticed a ramping up of energy in your posts. That oxygen stuff does wonders, doesn't it?

[I feel *much* better.... --Mike]

[Gary Nylander]

I somehow managed to last 41 years as a newspaper photographer. I would say that there were lots of better photographers out there, my work was pretty average but I was consistent with the work that I presented to my editors on a daily basis, so in that regard, I worked very hard.

[Mark Sampson]

It's worth remembering that Adams did not begin to make serious income from his prints until he was past what we now call "retirement age".
Until quite late in his life he was a working commercial photographer; you can see some of those little-known images in the early editions of his technical manuals.
So yes, he worked harder than any of us for a very long time, and achieved a great deal from it. Including becoming a legend- which tends to obscure his very real achievements (that's a different topic though).
If you're interested, I can recommend "Ansel Adams; The Making of a Photographer" by Dr. Rebecca Senf, of the Center for Creative Photography. Unlike most artists' biographies, she gets down and dirty and counts the money- which will go some way to explaining why he worked so hard.
I was lucky to spend twenty-five years of my professional career as an industrial photographer at a major corporation; let me tell you, free-lancing is hard work even if you love it.

[Speed]

I asked Bing Chat if Thomas Edison was a hard worker ...

Thomas Edison was known for his work ethic and dedication to his work. He was a workaholic, often working long hours and managing multiple projects simultaneously. In fact, he would wake up as early as 4 am and retire late at night, sometimes even skipping meals and sleeping. Edison was a busy multitasker, responsible for switching his attention from one task to another often several times during the day

I would add, "Necessary but not Sufficient."

[J D Ramsey]

Mike - I think your comment about not judging Adams original prints by "The Museum Set," may be an overgeneralization. The first time I saw an original Adams print was at the Met in NYC. Most of the Adams prints that are displayed at the Met were printed in 1974, ten years before his death. While Adams did change the way he printed his images over time, often tending to the more dramatic, to my knowledge those Met prints do not reflect declining eyesight.

Viewing those prints then opened my eyes to what was possible. While I grew up viewing books by Adams, Weston, Stieglitz, Strand, and so forth, once I saw the mastery of Adams original prints they left no doubt about the beauty that could be extracted from a black and white negative. Per your post, though, it hadn't yet dawned on me just how much work that entailed.

[The Museum Set project was initiated in 1978, if memory serves, and concluded at some point before his death in 1984. So c. 1974 prints don't fall into that range. John Sexton was his assistant in that time period, and has recounted some of Ansel's frustrations with the printings. I know he blamed some of the problems with available papers, and he wasn't the only one who was dissatisfied with the quality of papers in that window of time.

"Eyesight problems" is just speculation. I have no idea if eyesight played any part of it, although it seems logical that it might have. I probably shouldn't have written that. It would not have gotten past a New Yorker fact checker, at any rate, not without factual corroboration of some sort. --Mike]

[Stan B.]

Two observations: Don't know if that portrait is of any particular portrait style, all I do know is that I certainly would not want to be memorialized in like manner!

If anyone wants to see the quality possible in a B&W analog print, experience Wynn Bullock's Navigation Without Numbers- and yes, to experience it, you must view it in person.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

I'm a little bothered by the wide reference to "St. Ansel". I think it's contrary to his self-presentation, contrary to his real desserts and accomplishments, and just generally kind of nasty.

He was certainly a huge influence on me. I learned tremendous amounts from his Basic Photo series (on the craft side), and tremendous amounts more from Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs including a lot on the artistic side, and I still love his work.

What I'm interested in doing isn't much related to what he was interested in doing (which is convenient, since if I wanted to do it I'd have to do it better!), but they're plenty close enough I can learn from him.

[Steve J]

There are certainly folks who assiduously pursue their passions, putting in staggering hours with little regard for free time. But there is another form of ‘hard work’ that is often overshadowed by capitalism’s mythical reward system, whereby success might require dogged effort, but such effort does not guarantee success.

And this type of underappreciated and unrewarded ‘hard work’ entails doing a job that destroys your soul, inspires suicidal tendencies, pays little, obliterates any claim that capitalism and freedom are indivisible, and subjects you to a sociopathic boss (typical management). This type of hard work is a job that one would leave within a fraction of a second after winning the lottery. And no, just getting another job is often not feasible…if it were, after all, our wages would be higher and our treatment significantly more humane.

[Herman Krieger]

Keeping the Faith-

[Mario Gatti]

Those interested in Ansel Adams might like to listen to a talk given
by Andrea Stillman. She was a former assistant to Ansel.
It's called, "Looking at Ansel Adams: The Photographs and the Man".