Photography becomes more than art, more than paintings, or sculptures. It exposes the truth to life that a brush can barely compare to. If there is a passion, a real love for the art, photography becomes consuming, sinking into the skin forever. Every aspect of the soul becomes sucked into every turn, corner, or endless hole of a photograph. Since the days of the camera obscura in the early 1700s, photographers have continually stretched the boundaries, developing an ever-growing list of styles. Among the multitude of revolutionary photographers, stand some of the later photographers who could merely expand on what was already available. Three such photographers are Ansel Adams, Wynn Bullock, and Jerry Uelsmann, all of who worked during the 20th century ranging from more traditional landscape photography to digitized works.
[...] There is no point of white and yet the detail found through varying degrees of grays is almost piercing. I chose this photograph for many reasons. One of the strongest reasons is the trees. They seem to drape into the oblivion below engulfed by the blankets of mist. There is a sadness to it and yet so much freedom and a sense of relinquishing everything. This photograph takes hold of me and pulls me into the oblivion along with the mist. [...]
[...] A more modern photographer by the name of Jerry Uelsmann was part of the postwar generation of black and white photographers. Like several of his time, he created montages and collages following his belief that mind knows more than the eye and camera can (Uelsmann). Merging photographs into one began in the 1930s as a way of representing what seemed impossible and see, let alone capture with straight photography. He was a surrealist, creating masterpieces in the darkroom with no digital aid. [...]
[...] The tree was his silhouette against the land and the sky as a pitch black being. The light that shines through the clouds seems to cast light on the bank in the middle of the photograph. However it also appears that the sun gets lost at that bank in the mist, which seems to fill the valley. The light parts of the image fall across the middle in an arc following the hill. I chose this image for the detail and the truth of the image. [...]
[...] This photograph is unique in the naturalness of the Rule of Thirds, the black of the sky, the white clouds, and the gray land. Precisionist aspects are clear in this image based on the truth to it and the lack of manipulation. Another unique aspect to this photograph is the division of grays that create this detailed, contrasting image. Beginning with Zone 0 in the pitch black sky and the nearly Zone X in the almost paper white of the clouds, the image is carried down to the land with Zone III to Zone VII all represented. [...]
[...] Ansel Adams displayed nature in its most natural and true way by using a range of grays known as his Zone System. Wynn Bullock focused on the use of light to magnify images that appear in almost despair to show life and hope. Jerry Uelsmann used the use of a darkroom to create what could only be imagined. His images were left for interpretation and to demonstrate life and truth through what the mind sees not what the eye or camera sees. Photography, especially black and white photography, [...]
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