[pure-silver] Photos found at garage sale worth 25 cents...
- From: "Nicholas O. Lindan" <nolindan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2010 16:21:04 -0500
From the looks of the scans/proof-prints provided at
http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2010/07/27/128805438/adams
it is very hard to think these are A.A's work.
1) Terrible developing artifacts at the edges of the plates due to poor
agitation;
2) Bad composition;
3) Poor lighting - pictures taken at the wrong time of day;
4) Bad skies - uniform overcast in some cases.
From my readings it seems A.A. would sit for hours waiting for the right
lighting and the right clouds. These are examples of what happens when you
don't wait.
OTOH, I haven't seen the A.A. discards. My negative archives comprise a sea
of bloopers with a few floaters that rise above the common muck. If these
are discards, which if they are A.A.'s work they surely are as he never
printed them, he would hardly have packed them up to use in teaching a
class - unless they were taken along as examples of what not to do.
Nicholas O. Lindan
Cleveland Engineering Design, LLC
Cleveland, Ohio 44121
----- Original Message -----
From: "bonner" <bguil@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, July 31, 2010 1:01 PM
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Experts: Ansel Adams photos found at garage sale
worth ...
More opinion from real, not lawyer hired non photo experts on the plates
supposedly from AA. Statement below from John Sexton, also an AA assistant.
Internal link is grandson’s opinion.
Bg
I am sending this “mini-edition” of my email newsletter in response to the
scores of emails and voice mails I have received in the past few days, while
traveling, concerning the recent media attention concerning a group of 65
glass plates, purchased ten years ago for $45 by a fellow named Rick
Norsigian at a garage sale in Fresno, California. These negatives are
alleged to have been made by Ansel Adams. The recent “authentication”
announcement, and wide spread media coverage, have certainly been
fascinating. It is amazing how much attention Ansel, and his photography,
commands.
First of all I want to state that I have NOT seen any of the glass plates in
question, nor have I seen any actual prints made from those negatives. I
have however seen reproductions of many of the images since the first round
of media coverage quite some time ago. I have looked at the statements
claiming to verify that these negatives were indeed made by Ansel, but
personally can find no “proof” to indicate that such is the case.
I do believe these images were made by a talented and competent photographer
who, like many photographers then and now, was drawn to photograph places of
great beauty like Yosemite. A friend or acquaintance of Ansel might even
have made these images.
One of the most revealing pieces of information suggesting that Ansel did
not make these negatives is that there are no known prints from ANY of these
glass plates, and I personally believe Ansel would have likely printed at
least some of these images. In addition, throughout Ansel’s photographic
career he was meticulous in the way he handled and stored his negatives. It’s
beyond my comprehension that Ansel would have allowed negatives to end up in
a storage facility in Los Angeles, when he took such good care of the
approximately 44,000 negatives that reside in his archive at the Center for
Creative Photography at the University of Arizona.
I also find it surprising that among the “experts” that the attorney
representing Mr. Norsigian assembled there is not a single recognized
photographic historian or scholar. As many readers of this newsletter are
large format photographers it will come as no surprise that film or plate
holders have different methods for securely holding the film, or glass
plate, in position. If one had access to these photographic plates, it would
be easy to compare the edge artifacts on the plates in question with glass
plates that were definitely made by Ansel to see if any of the plates were
exposed in the same holders. Plate holders in use during the time frame in
question would each have unique characteristics that would easily be
visible. Ansel, like virtually all photographers, kept his plate and film
holders for a long period of time. As I said... interesting!
I am not along in my skepticism about these images. Matthew Adams, Ansel’s
grandson and President of The Ansel Adams Gallery, William Turnage, Managing
Trustee of The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust (who referred to
situation as “Ansel Scam”), Alan Ross, Ansel’s Photographic Assistant prior
to me - who still makes the beautiful Special Editions Prints of Yosemite
from Ansel’s original negatives, along with other photographic friends and
colleagues, have all expressed doubt that these images were made by Ansel.
Here are a couple of interesting links to check out:
http://theanseladamsgallery.blogspot.com/
http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2010/07/29/128854843/adamsscam
It will be interesting to see what unfolds. Along with the massive amount of
attention suggesting Ansel made the 65 glass plates, I found it interesting
that “Uncle Earl” Brooks - a photographer from Fresno photographing during
the time period in question, might have made them. If you haven’t heard
about this possibility, you may want to check out this link:
http://www.ktvu.com/news/24432262/detail.html
In the meantime, I would advise people to think carefully before rushing out
to order prints from these glass plates thinking you are purchasing a
photograph by Ansel Adams. But then again... it might be nice to add a
beautiful image by “Uncle Earl” to your collection.
From: pure-silver-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:pure-silver-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2010 1:09 PM
To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Experts: Ansel Adams photos found at garage sale
worth ...
Don it is not quite as cut and dried here in the US. When dead the
copyrights go to the estate as long as they are in force. But there is
another complication in that a name can be a brand, and branding can be
transferred by contract here. For years and years much of the items sold by
teams in Nascar with the drivers image or logo, but none of the revenue
produced from the image or name of the driver actually found its way to the
driver. It was considered part of the job of driving a race car. Now most
if not all have their on brand and companies that deal with that part of the
business, and have their own ways of licensing products.
I'm no lawyer and don't play one on TV, but Ansel Adams could be considered
both a name and a brand. I don't know if Ansel trademarked his name or the
ramifications that would hold.
If in the US the artist is dead and the copyright has expired, the work
falls into public domain and anyone can use it.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Experts: Ansel Adams photos found at garage
sale worth ...
From: Don Sweet <don@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, July 29, 2010 10:52 pm
To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
That's interesting. In my country an artist's right to prevent false
attribution of authorship is one of the so called moral rights covered by
copyright law. I don't know how it works in the USA.
Where the artist is dead, and assuming any copyright has expired, who has
"the right to the name"?
Don Sweet
----- Original Message -----
From: Carlileb@xxxxxxx
To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2010 2:40 PM
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Experts: Ansel Adams photos found at garage sale
worth ...
In a message dated 7/29/2010 1:23:33 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
don@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
As there would therefore not be much point in starting a court case over the
authenticity of these negatives, I fail to see why these people are talking
like Melvin Belli.
If the Adams estate owns the right to the name, there certainly is cause for
a dispute.
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