We were in Chichigoff Island, Alaska. I was standing, waiting on my wife and playing around with my i-Phone when I saw this, and didn't think much about it at the time, but I made the exposure. When I got home and uploaded the files I saw what I needed to do with it immediately.
Nathan, very impressive especially for an i-Phone don’t get me wrong I’m a firm believed of the best camera is the nearest on hand. But I already associate your work with large format images.
Initial before I read your description I thought of this Ansel Adams "Leaves, Glacier National Park, Montana," :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/4309063357/
this is not the best reproduction but once you’ve seen Adams work in person even the best online or third party prints are mere reproductions. Compositional these are totally different other than the same species which make your’s even more impressive.
Thank you. My wife had gone into a gift shop of some sort and I was piddling away outside waiting on her. My camera gear was stowed some distance away. Indeed, the best camera is the one you have in your hands. It's kind of amazing, that image holds together at much greater enlargement than what I would have thought.
As far as what camera is available it's also the chooses the photographer does with it i.e, keeping the focal/film plain parallel to the subject, appropriate aperture, etc I'm sure your well versed. Main think is to know the limits of the gear and push to the limits without attempting to exceed them.
The thing about Adams too, I believe that a lot of the papers in his era are much better than what we have now. I used to print on Oriental graded paper, which is what he used, then on Kodak Polymax which is the best paper I ever used. Unfortunately neither of those are now available. Thanks for the nice comment.
BTW, I've a friend that has a print of the Adam's photograph on his wall. A remarkable image.
Yes, I know I have seen several, some original prints by Ansel and other that his Gallery in Yosemite refer to as “Yosemite Special Edition Photographs” which have been printed by a former assistant to Mr. Adams. Other than these where printed in publications or online done compare. The best online reproductions I have seen are from Sothebys as I mentioned but these are limited and I don’t know how long they are posted. The University of Arizona Center for Creative Photography has possibly the most extensive catalog of his work but they’ve change their format recently and I my opinion not for the better.
Nathan, this is a link to the actual Ansel Adams photo your image made me think of - https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2024/ansel-adams-a-legacy-photog...
I know something looks off with the earlier image from Flickr. Later
A thing that is astonishing to me is the image quality I can get from my i-Phone 14. Images hold together really well, even at 8x10 print size, and larger. My ideal would have been to have my LF cameras and film. However, traveling through multiple airports and security screenings makes that kind of a problem. When I do take my LF cameras and lenses, and all the other claptrap that goes with them, I usually ship them to my first destination via UPS, and for sure the film goes ahead. That has become VERY expensive to do, however. The agent at our UPS counter would often make a mistake, purposeful I think. When I shipped my gear out I would purchase a roundtrip ticket. I paid full price for the shipping out, however since the return ticket was to an address in my own town, he only charged me for local delivery. Those good times are gone I think.