Moon and Half Dome Revisited

Visitors and residents alike gathered in the Ahwahnee Meadow to watch the gibbous moonrise last Saturday afternoon at 4:04 pm. Just as the correct time for viewing the Moon and Half Dome encore of Ansel's famous photo made in December 1960 was approaching, blustery winds from the east blew snow showers across in front of Half Dome blocking the view of the moon. Staff Photographers Evan Russel and Gabe Mange took matters into their own hands after Evan found a yellow golf ball in the meadow. Encore complete!

Visit our newly created Moon and Half Dome Flickr Group or check out our Facebook fan site for more creative images made that evening.

Michael Frye also has a nice blog entry on the evening as well.

Enjoy!

Moon and Half Dome Celestial Encore Tonight!

Here is a look at Ansel's original contact sheet from the 120 roll film he used in 1960. Notice how his attention wanders a couple of times and that he used more than one lens.

Weather Alert- Chance of rain and snow this morning in Yosemite Valley, but it appears it will clear this afternoon for the Moon and Half Dome celestial encore. Follow our weather link for more information.

Can't make it up to Yosemite for the encore? Tune in to the Yosemite Association's live Yosemite Web Cam views at 4:04 pm PST.

Special Notice- Black Friday Online Sale will be extended through the weekend! Save 15% on Ansel Adams merchandise (excluding original photography and photography education).

Our biggest and last sale of the year. Don't miss this one!

Michael Adams on the Making of Moon and Half Dome

Moon and Half Dome, Yosemite, California, 1960

Michael Adams recently recalled the events surrounding the making of Moon and Half Dome by his father in 1960:

Ansel claimed that he had always been moonstruck and had many moons in pictures. This photograph was taken in December of 1960 when in Yosemite to direct the Bracebridge Dinner. It was a cold afternoon with snow on the ground. Ansel was using his Hasselblad camera on a tripod and took a number of photographs using different lenses. The contact prints of the image reveal a number of similar photographs that look wonderful. In 1962 when Jeanne and I married, Ansel offered this image to use as our wedding announcement. Jeanne feels that Ansel took his most exciting images when emotionally engaged and comments: “This was taken my first Christmas with the Adams family and Ansel was particularly happy for Michael and the family.”

It has turned out to be one of Ansel’s most popular and sought after photographs. Ansel stated: “I have photographed Half Dome innumerable times, but it is never the same Half Dome, never the same light or the same mood. I am told by mountaineers that the three most distinctive mountain shapes in the world are the Mustagh Tower in the Karakorams, the Matterhorn in the Alps, and Half Dome in Yosemite. Half Dome is a great mountain with endless variations of lighting and sky situations and seasonal characteristics; the many images I have made reflect my varied creative responses to this remarkable granite monolith.”

A reminder: An"encore" of Ansel's much-loved photograph of the Moon and Half Dome will take place in the afternoon on Saturday, November 28 at 4:04 pm. Special programs led by our staff photographers begin at 12:30 p.m. For more information or to register, please go to our website.

Moon and Half Dome is available as a poster and as a matted reproduction. It is also available as a beautiful Special Edition Photograph. Ansel Adams former assistant, Alan Ross has been printing the Special Edition Photographs to Ansel's exact specifications for over 30 years.

This month, Alan presents his own elegant black-and-white photographs in our current exhibit, Visions of Yosemite and the West, on display in Yosemite through January 3, 2010. The Gallery will host a reception for Alan following the the Moon and Half Dome programs on Saturday, November 28 from 5:00 to 6:30 pm.

To commemorate the encore, Alan Ross will sign and date the back of a limited number of Moon and Half Dome Special Edition Photographs. The prints will be available during the Thanksgiving weekend only to celebrate the encore and will not be made available again in the future. Select from three metal frame colors; german silver, contrast gray, and matte black. An acid-free seal in the cut-out window of the backing protects the print and allows the identifying stamp, signature, and date to be visible. Call the Gallery at 888-361-7622 to reserve yours.

Happy Thanksgiving!

As we celebrate this holiday and count our blessings, we are most thankful for you!

May you enjoy the peace and comfort of friends and family today and every day.

Our best wishes,
The Ansel Adams Gallery

Two Workshops Added To The Schedule

Digital Printing and the Zone System
With Michael Frye

January 19-23, 2010
(Yosemite National Park)
When Ansel Adams developed the Zone System with Fred Archer in 1940, he gave photographers a great tool for controlling their images - but only with black-and-white film, and only with view cameras, where sheets of film could be processed individually. Today any photographer with a digital camera can have even more control, in black and white or color.his workshop will explore the techniques for making great digital prints. You'll learn how to use the Zone System in the field with digital cameras, and how to apply sophisticated processing to images in Photoshop.


Winter Light II
With Keith Walklet

February 17-22, 2010 (Yosemite National Park) *Newly Added*
While each season offers its own special qualities, winter conditions add even more beauty to an already spectacular landscape. Using a combination of field and classroom time, Keith Walklet will cover topics including composition, lighting, exposure and more while leading the workshop group through Yosemite Valley to capture the winter landscape.
Contrasted with the cool hues of frost and snow, the fiery light of February is unforgettable. Veteran Yosemite photographers know that winter conditions add even more beauty to an already spectacular landscape. This workshop was scheduled specifically to take advantage of these conditions and the potential to capture one of the park's most elusive images; Horsetail Fall backlit by the setting sun.

Heated cabins with baths at Curry Village in Yosemite Valley have been set aside for both workshops. Once you register for the workshop online you will receive more information on acquiring accommodations. For more information visit our website, or contact us at workshops@anseladams.com.

One-Day Workshop with Mike Osborne Update!

Rooms still available at the river-front Yosemite View Lodge in El Portal for $51.00. The Yosemite View Lodge is located just outside Yosemite National Park on Highway 140. The workshop meets in the motel lobby at 7:00 am. Register today!

Still Time to Sign-up For One-Day Workshop With Mike Osborne This Coming Saturday, November 21

Don't miss out! The River NoBody Knows One-Day Workshop with Mike Osborne will take you to wonderful locations on the lower Merced River you never knew existed. Mike is a wonderful instructor. Join him as he shares his love of photography and knowledge of the prime river locations.

Yosemite National Park is composed almost exclusively of granite, and who could dispute the marvelous terrain that rock has produced? But granite is basically various shades of gray. In contrast, large stretches of the Merced River downstream from the park are carved out of much older metamorphic rock. Not only is this rock often layered and contorted, it also comes in fantastic shades of blue, red and orange. It provides some truly wonderful compositions in conjunction with autumn reflections in the river and is all the more remarkable in contrast with all the gray rock upstream.

This is guaranteed to be a day you will not soon forget. Visit our website for more information or call us at 888-361-7622.

Signed Commemorative Photograph Available at the Yosemite Gallery Thanksgiving Weekend

To commemorate the Moon and Half Dome encore on November 28 at 4:04 pm, Alan Ross will sign and date the back of a limited number of Moon and Half Dome Special Edition Photographs. If you are planning to be in the park on November 28, and have signed-up for our special In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams-Moon and Half Dome photography class, we invite you to reserve one of these prints to memorialize the occasion. The prints will be available during the Thanksgiving weekend only to celebrate the encore and will not be made available again in the future. Select from three metal frame colors; german silver, contrast gray, and matte black. An acid-free seal in the cut-out window of the backing protects the print and allows the identifying stamp, signature, and date to be visible.

We are reserving the Moon and Half Dome prints with Alan Ross’ signature on the back for Yosemite visitors taking part on our classes that weekend. Any prints not sold to class participants during the encore programs will be available for sale only at the Gallery. Please call: 888-361-7622 or email us at sales@anseladams.com for more information, and to register for the class and reserve your print for pick-up at the Gallery. This commemorative photograph will not be available online.

Alan’s new exhibit at the Gallery entitled Yosemite and the American West opens November 17. We invite you to join us for a reception for the artist following the Moon and Half Dome encore, from 5:00 to 6:30 pm at The Ansel Adams Gallery. Refreshments will be served.

Upcoming New Exbibit in Yosemite- Reception for Alan Ross

A new exhibit entitled Visions of Yosemite and the West featuring the black and white silver gelatin photographs of Alan Ross opens November 17th.

After his 1971 graduation from the University of California, Berkeley, with a BA in Design/Photography, Alan Ross began his illustrious career in photography serving as assistant in the M. Halberstadt studio in San Francisco. As an apprentice there he practiced black-and-white and color illustration photography, general studio, and darkroom techniques. After three years of studio work, he started freelancing as a commercial photographer until joining Ansel Adams in Carmel as his photographic assistant from 1974-79.

Alan regards himself as a classicist with regard to his photographic approach, but not a purist. His work in the last twenty-five years has been mostly with an 8×10 view camera, but he has no philosophical objection to digital photography or “point-and-shoot” cameras. Alan's beautiful images of Yosemite the American West will be on display at the Gallery in Yosemite until January 3, 2010.

The Gallery in Yosemite will host a reception for Alan following the the Moon and Half Dome programs on Saturday, November 28 from 5:00 to 6:30 pm.

A reminder: An"encore" of Ansel's much-loved photograph of the Moon and Half Dome, originally made in December 1960, will take place in the afternoon on Saturday, November 28 at 4:04 pm. Special programs led by our staff photographers begin at 12:30 p.m. For more information or to register, please go to our website.

Moon and Half Dome "Encore" November 28, 2009 at 4:04 p.m. PST

On November 28th a celestial "encore" of Moon and Half Dome will appear in the sky east of the Ahwahnee Meadow in Yosemite National Park. The moon will be a fraction of a degree north of where it was on December 28th, 1960, when Ansel made this photograph.

Texas State University astronomer Donald W. Olson and his team have studied Ansel's famous moon photographs and worked out the exact dates the negatives were made. To do this they had to find the precise location of his camera to calculate the position of the moon and sun.

In honor of this event, our weekly photography class
In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams will present a special program focused on the making and printing of Ansel's famous image of Moon and Half Dome on Saturday November 28th, starting at 12:30 p.m. The fee is $95.00 and includes our logo camera strap. Please see our website for more information, or call us at 209-372-4413.

Following the program join us for a reception at the Gallery. our curators, staff photographers, and invited special guests will be present to talk about Ansel's technique and vision.