Awesome Photos

Ansel Adams remains a national treasure.  His photographs still enhance many a modern living-room and inspire many a photographer (author included.)   Adams’ genius was two-fold.  He had an artistic eye to start with, that we know.  But combined with the gift of sheer talent, he had an uncanny ability to methodically and scientifically enhance his images and create prints that revealed exactly what his minds-eye saw through the lens.

Oh, he worked at it though.  He dodged, burned, masked, filtered, etc… All of these processes taking hours if not days of time.  Would Adams not be fascinated with the instant feedback digital imaging offers?  Being an environmentalist, would he not love the fact that digital does away with all those harsh dark-room chemicals? I say the answers to these questions is a resounding YES.  He always indicated that he was eager to see what the future would hold for photography and even left his negatives to a large university so that they could use future technologies to develop them.

So, assuming Adams was alive today, what sort of DSLR would Adams use?  I think it would be a Canon EOS-1DS Mark III.  Why? Because the 21 mega-pixel sensor would give him the same image quality as a 4×5.  Plus it’s easy to hike with and rugged for outdoor use.  He would love the mirror pre-lock feature as well as the depth-of -field preview.  And, because he worked mainly in black and white, it’s likely the option to shoot in monochrome would have thrilled him.

One thing for sure, he would never use an automatic mode.  In fact, he would  know every setting, button and switch.  He would know the camera inside and out; to it’s full extent.  It’s possible he would have come out with his own signature model.  And boy, would I be saving up for that.