Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams was an American photographer known for his black and white landscape photos of the American West; he shot a lot of photos at Yosemite National Park.

 

This photo is so simple and yet it says so much. The horizon causes this photo to be split right in the middle and allows the sky to be reflected across the water. It makes the bottom half of the photo appear symmetric to the top half of it, and that's really interesting because if he would have taken it at a different angle that made the horizon higher or lower, then it would have changed the whole mood of the image.

 

The fact that Ansel Adams shot with black and white film worked in his favor. If this photo above was shot in color, you would lose so much of the contrasts in it. The extreme darks in the trees on the left and the mountains in the background, along with the extreme lights in the water and the clouds, help to make this photo seem so mysterious. The composition is nice because the river draws your eye throughout the frame from the bottom right corner to the mid-left of the photo in a zig zag pattern.


One thing I really love about this photo is the lighting. I think it's interesting how Ansel Adams didn't include the sun in this exposure but just the rays of light coming through the clouds. The light's reflecting off of the sides of the rocks to show form and value with the high lights and shadows it's creating.

 

See more of Ansel Adam's images here.