I was priviliged to view the preview to the exhibit "Ansel Adams in Our Time" at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts last weekend. I was struck by the depth of the blacks in Adams' prints. I think most contemporary photographers would be tempted to wring out every last bit of shadow detail, and leave the shadows a bit weaker for the effort. While Adams did not block up his shadows to black, he left many areas with just barely discernible shadow detail, even under museum-quality lighting.
I came of age in the 70's, and always felt as if Ansel himself had taught me photography, as I honed my chops by studying his classic trilogy "The Camera," "The Negative," and "The Print." I also carefully observed the prints on display at the Cleveland Museum of Art. I came away with a passionate love of deep, rich blacks in prints. As I look now on some of the prints I produced at that time, they are too dark for my current taste.
Ansel Adams is acknowledged as perhaps the greatest master of the art of darkroom printing. While current technology makes it much easier to adjust tonal control, I think it was no accident or lack of control which resulted in the depth of his shadows. It was an artistic choice.
Another show at the MFA spawned similar thoughts. The current exhibition "French Pastels: Treasures From the Vault" features an extraordinary selection of works by Jean-Francois Millet. Many show scenes at night or long after sunset, and have dark tones and low contrast. Since Millet was creating these images from scratch, he could have done whatever he liked, but he chose to make things dark. And it works spectacularly!
I have been rethinking my treatment of shadows. I have begun, in small steps, to return to my embrace of the deep.