The week's Week-end Assigment (Number 50!) asks us to talk about a work of art that's had a significant impact on us. So here it is - Ansel Adams, Moonrise Over Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941.
I took a photograph like this once -- a photograph of the moon rising over the distant mountains as we drove from Jackson back to Grand Teton National Park one night. My photograph is a brilliant work of art -- solid black, nary a moon nor mountain in sight. Okay, so I have a ways to go before I even reach technology kindergarten. I'm fine with that.
Seriously, this is a photograph at which I think I could gaze for hours. This is the photograph that tells me that spending hours trying to produce a print that says exactly what you want is worth the effort.
It's also a photograph that brings to mind the dozens of times I have celebrated full moons with my children: at home, over the desert in the Southwest, over the Atlantic Ocean, over the lakes of Algonquin in Canada, over the summer Piazza Vecchio in Florence, over the winter Seine in Paris.
It's also a photograph that was taken before the atomic bomb was tested in the desert of the southwest, and yet the astonishing rendition of light in the sky seems almost to foreshadow that awful morning in New Mexico when physicist Robert Oppenheimer watched his destructive creation come to life for the first time and said, quotingthe Baghavad-Gita, "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." The New Mexican desert was one place in 1941; it was another after the summer of 1945.
A work of art -- a slice of beauty and technical mastery in itself; a reminder of precious personal moments, both humorous and poignant; a connection to geography and history on a grand scale.
9 comments:
You are right. This is a lovely photograph. I just can't stare at the foregound that long because of all those grave markers. I think I am afraid of death.
This is one of my absolute favorite photographs. I am fortunate to live in the city of the International Museum of Photography and have spent a great deal of time staring at this picture when they have exhibited it. It is one of the best examples of the high contrast that it is a part of Adams' work and it never ceases to amaze me. He shot it at dawn just as the sun was rising and highlighting the white gravestones and crosses.
The high mesa in Northern New Mexico is one of my favorite places on earth. I used to go there to ski annually and have spent hours staring at the infinite number of stars in the desert sky while sitting in a hot tub. Daytime involved skiing but plenty of time to explore countryside churches and graveyards as well as pueblos full of native culture including kachina dolls, beautiful ceramics, and amazing food.
This picture is an exquisite rendition of the landscape in that area. I would recommend Santa Fe, Ojo Calliente, and Taos to anybody as a place not to be missed in the travels of life.
The photograph does have a kind of ominous beauty to it.
Isn't this a beautiful photograph. I never get tired of looking at it . Tina
I love Ansel Adams. He had such a genius with black and white photography. His photographs do not look like photographs at all. Few photographers can make that claim. Lisa :-]
I adore, love, and am amazed by Ansel Adams photography. His ability to capture light in such a way is priceless.
Rebecca
Such a beautiful picture. Sometimes black and white can be more powerful than color!
Don't worry about being ready for technology kindergarten yet! I read a very intersting article about this picture, where it was explained he did not just take the picture and walk away. There was quite a bit of manipulation during the developing process. In fact the actual picture itself is rather bland. But I still think you have an amzing eye and should think about photography classes someday.
VERY INTERESTING & CREATIVE PAGE~
http://journals.aol.com/cste609371/writingsshortstoriesbyStewart
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