Ansel Adams’ former assistant talks about working with the master in new video

 

 

Anyone who's an Ansel Adams fan is going to want to set aside an hour or so to watch this insightful video (below). Entitled "Looking at Ansel Adams: The Photographs and the Man," it's an educational discussion led by Andrea Stillman who worked for Adams as his assistant at his home studio in Carmel, CA, beginning in 1974.

Adams had a separate photo assistant who worked in his darkroom but Stillman "did everything else" for the master photographer while working for him for six years.

"This included managing the sale of hundreds of his photographs - everything from telling Ansel which negative to print to approving the final mounted photograph and writing the title on the back," she says. "I also edited his writing and lectures and worked with him on innumerable books of his photographs -- selecting the images, assisting with the production, and working on press to assure the best reproductions. I also accompanied him on many trips to open exhibitions and promote new books."

Stillman discusses Adams' photography, offering first-hand insight into how some of his famous black-and-white images were made. The video was shot at the B&H Photo and Video Store in New York City as part of the store's ongoing lecture series.

If you're an Ansel Adams fan, you should also check out this story on some of his lost photo prints that were discovered at the University of California's Berkley campus last year.

(Via Reddit)