P#42: Great Sand Dunes, Batman!: The Power of Black and White

Ansel Adams Meets the Great Sand Dunes

David Tejada: Ah yes, the black and white. This is where I started in my photography. It was Ansel Adams that inspired me to get into photography and I taught myself the zone system. I was very much into controlling the scene, the previsualization that Ansel Adams went through.

Before the film was actually exposed, you're mentally already there standing in front of the frame picture. You know what chemicals you're going to use, you know what paper you're going to use, you choose how deep the shadows are going to be in your mind's eye and you expose correctly, and you process the film the way you see it in your mind's eye. (click the image for a larger version)

It was that kind of magic and science and art that drove me to photography. I have a real, real passion for this kind of work. Now, do I do it today? No, sadly I don't. I've taken apart my darkroom. I'm totally digital but I really miss that science end of it.

Nowadays we can make a black and white with the click of a button and shifting levels, and all that sort of stuff. I love black and white but it was the whole process. It was the complete process of seeing the image upside down on the ground glass, the dusting off of the holders, the processing, the chemicals underneath your fingernails, and all that sort of stuff.

As a matter of fact, this was not Death Valley. I think that's Great Sand Dunes National Monument. I do get to go out to the Sand Dunes this next week. I'll be leading a Mentor series trek for Popular Photography next week in Death Valley so I'm looking forward to doing something similar like this but with my newly converted D70 infrared camera. It's a lot of fun, looking forward to that.

In Conclusion

The digital era may lack some of the artistic meticulousness Ansel Adams valued, but it does make it easy for anyone with a bit of know how to snap a great shot like David's at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.