ALL ARTS Vault Selects

Ansel Adams: Points of View
Journey into the ALL ARTS Vault for this unique episode featuring Ansel Adams, as he brings his singular perspective to photographing a ranch house in Pescadero. What are the various points of view that a photographer can take when photographing a subject such as a house? How does that point of view change depending on the purpose of the photograph?
TRANSCRIPT
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Welcome to the ALL ARTS Vault.
I'm Shanelle Gabriel.
The Vault is the place to go for special access
to all things arts,
so we're going to go into the archives
to uncover some of our greatest gems
and share these programs with you
as they would've been seen decades ago
when they first aired.
Today, we're presenting the third part
in our five-part series from 1960,
featuring American photographer Ansel Adams.
In this unique episode titled "Points of View,"
you'll watch as Adams brings his singular perspective
to photographing a single ranch house in Pescadero.
What are the various points of view
that a photographer can take
when photographing a subject such as a house?
How does that point of view change
depending on the purpose of the photograph?
Is the photograph for historical,
architectural, or anthropological purposes?
How can the artist use the language of photography
to achieve these various aims
through simply changing points of view?
You'll soon find out in this intimate portrait
of an artist at work.
We hope you enjoy.
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[ Waves crashing ]
[ Seagulls squawking ]
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Narrator: On the coast of Northern California
near Pescadero
stands an old house.
To the wealthy rancher who gave it as a wedding present
to his daughter and her groom,
Sea Captain Brown, it was a token of devotion.
To the casual traveler of today,
it appears as a nostalgic reminder of the past.
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To the family who live there now, it is a home.
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What happens when this house
becomes the subject of photography?
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Ansel Adams thinks of photography as a language...
...a language that is able to tell many things
in many different ways.
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The exposure has been made, and the finished image,
in this case, a Polaroid 4-by-5 print,
will soon be ready.
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This, in terms of photography,
is one way of saying White House Ranch, Pescadero,
but the vocabulary of the photographer must be able
to express the reality of this place in many ways.
Built in 1880, the old house has been well lived in,
and its inhabitants have left many traces of their occupancy.
Today, the upper story is unoccupied,
but many of the original fixtures throughout the house,
such as this classic newel post, recall its past elegance.
Some of them serve a different purpose now,
but the magic of the old place is still reflected
in many living touches.
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The Contreras family, who live here now,
came from the Mexican border town of Tecate in 1947.
Carlos is the oldest son, age 16.
Marcelino is 13 years old.
Like his older brother, he was born in Tecate.
So was Rachel, age 12.
But Mary was born in this house 10 years ago,
and so were Ramon, age 4, and Anna, 7.
Father Salu Contreras has lived and worked in Pescadero
for 12 years together with his wife, Ignacia,
and Grandmother Mary, her mother,
has come on a visit all the way from Tecate.
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White House Ranch is an old building now,
but its charm has not worn off.
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The photographer must be inquisitive
about the many aspects of his subject.
But the curiosity is certainly mutual.
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An architectural detail has been recorded.
This too could be called an architectural detail,
but through the language of photography,
it evokes a different response.
Photography is more than a mere record.
The camera can give as many interpretations
as the photographer is able to imagine,
and the subject appears in myriad ways,
more than any one approach could suggest.
As the purpose of an assignment changes,
so does the point of view.
If the house were to be photographed for the tax row,
a more distant camera position would be required
to include as much ground as possible.
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This picture comes as close to a mere record
as a photograph can get.
With the boundary line drawn in, it will be ready for filing.
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Photographing for a real-estate firm
would require still another point of view.
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A camera position must be found which shows the size
and structure of the house to best advantage.
Or better still, this photograph,
taken during the height of the growing season,
helps to emphasize the lush vegetation
and the beautiful old trees.
To a historian of Victorian architecture,
this head-on shot would be of particular interest
as would a picture of the north facade with its additions
and mixed architectural styles.
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Or the historian might want to come in for an even closer
look at ornamental details such as these.
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By now, there is evidence of the photographer's presence
everywhere,
but during his frequent visits,
some of the novelty has worn off...
...and life resumes its normal pace.
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Father goes off to work.
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Ramon and Anna stay behind
while the older children go to school
and come back home.
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The photographic possibilities are far from exhausted.
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Different problems call for different cameras.
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Details such as these will be of special interest
to interior decorators in search of handsome, old fixtures.
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The Contreras family lives in great simplicity
but with warmth and dignity.
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And relations with the photographer
quickly assume the same character.
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The photographer can count on all kinds of help.
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The point of view of the sociologist,
the photo reporter or documentarian
is conditioned by his human perception.
He must tell the story of a situation,
the main house where the Contreras family lives...
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...the furnishings...
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...and the way the family supplements its living...
...the children that play...
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...and coming home from school.
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John Grierson once wrote,
"The documentary idea demands no more than
that the affairs of our time shall be shown in any fashion
which strikes the imagination
and makes observation a little richer than it was.
It is the basic tenant of documentary work
that the primary search is not for beauty
but for the fact of the matter
and that in the fact of the matter
is the only path to beauty that will not soon wear down."
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Ansel Adams' approach reflects
his sense of obligation towards the subject.
He feels that, in the hands of the mature photographer,
the most successful images are those which contain
the greatest intensity of statement,
composition, and human significance.
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Where the photo documentarian strives for integrity
and intensity of statement, the ethnologist's main interest
must be a clear rendition of his subject's features.
His purpose is best served by head-on portraits
and profiles such as these.
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An artificial setup such as this is far removed
from a search for the fact of the matter.
It was contrived for strictly pictorial effects.
Some may read a surrealist meaning into the print.
Others will call it a mere gimmick or salon photography.
The interest of the salonist centers mainly on the surface
of things, the quaint angle, the odd moment,
the cute picture.
The photo poet has a different approach.
He establishes an intensely personal relation
to the reality of the house --
its shape, its surroundings, the people who live in it.
He can capture the truth of his subject
best through equivalence,
composition, scale, subtleties of tonal values.
A mere record or a gimmick are of no value to him.
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The image he takes adds his own awareness
to the reality of the house.
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Through his eyes, the viewer is enriched
and able to see the subject
in many ways he may not have perceived on his own.
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An old porch screen becomes the object of subtle exploration.
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Looking closer and closer into an ordinary object
such as weathered paint around an old window
reveals exciting patterns and textures.
Semiabstract subject matter such as this
becomes an actual transcription of reality.
It has, Ansel Adams feels,
the magnificent quality of meaning nothing
except what it evokes in the artist's own consciousness
and in the spectator's subjective reaction.
Like the composer,
the photographer has many instruments at his disposal.
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And like the musician, a thorough mastery of techniques
enables him to perform with accuracy
and spontaneous insight.
In his daybooks, Edward Weston wrote,
"One does not think during creative work
any more than one thinks when driving a car,
but one has a background of years,
learning, unlearning, success, failure, dreaming,
thinking, experience, all this, then the moment of creation,
the focusing of all into the moment."
Ansel Adams' approach to photography
transcends a mere desire for self-expression.
Adams: The photographer who experiences more than
the surface excitement of the moment
and succeeds in conveying his deeper
understanding through his work opens another
and far more resonant world for the spectator.
What he achieves is not so much
the intensification of the inner world of the spectator.
The photographer, instead of being just an informer,
becomes a catalyst of consummate power.
Here lies, I believe, a suggestion
for a prime definition of art
and especially of the art of photography.
Those photographers who explore, distill and interpret
the intangible essences of the world
can truly be called photo poets.
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Narrator: Art does not reproduce the visible.
Rather, it makes visible.
The artist can give as many interpretations
as he is able to perceive.
They all depend on his point of view.
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This is National Educational Television.
Like a composer,
a photographer has many instruments at their disposal.
It's an apt comparison from Ansel Adams,
and as you've seen in this episode of
"Photography - The Incisive Art,"
the photographer has quite a few instruments at his disposal.
While primarily known as a landscape photographer,
it's quite illuminating to see
Adams working in different modes of image making
that go beyond typical landscapes
as well as being able to draw such a wealth of inspiration
from the same shooting location.
We hope you've enjoyed this unique point of view
from the ALL ARTS Vault.
See you next time.