My comments about photography and music are not mine but rather the words of Ansel Adams, perhaps the greatest photographer of the 20th century. In case you are not totally familiar with his work, a brief history lesson. His first career dream was to be a concert pianist. He trained and worked hard at it, but felt he wasn’t good enough to go far. He turned to his other passions for the great outdoors and photography. His development of the Zone System revolutionized the craft. It was him who said his negatives were musical scores and his prints the performance. And his performances are truly magnificent and should be seen in person to fully enjoy. One of the most interesting shows I have ever seen was a show of his at the de Young Museum in San Francisco sometime in the 1980s or 90s. There were maybe 20 or 30 prints, all of the same image. Moon Rise, Hernandez, New Mexico. All different. Starting with early prints from the 1940s to the current look and how the print evolved over time. Some of it had to do with availability of materials, but mostly you could see how his creative thinking changed and how he massaged the image over time. Each print was a different performance of the original negative. It made me realize I could do the same with my work, that I could reinterpret my negatives as well, something I do often. Maybe it is a quest to “get it right” or simply to just to see a different version. But it’s the process, and how you get there that is just as important as the final piece.
