Ansel Adams was deeply interested in the visual nuances made possible by photographic technology and in registering the ways that the various stages of the photographic process could be controlled by the photographer, from the exposure of the negative to its development in the darkroom. This print is one of the first of many that he made from a single negative. Attempting to convey the intensity of his experience watching the moon rise over this austere landscape, Adams progressively increased the contrast in the prints, heightening the moon’s whiteness and deepening the sky’s darkness.

Additional text from

Seeing Through Photographs online course, Coursera, 2016

Medium Gelatin silver print
Dimensions 15 3/4 × 19 1/2" (40 × 49.5 cm)
Credit Purchase
Object number 467.1964
Department Photography

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