Ansel Adams & Influential Art Final
Original Image – Canyon de Chelly – Ansel Adams
Original Image – Dark Canyon
Photoshop Edited Version
Version Before Critique
Final Version
This artwork that I was influenced by is a photography piece that was taken by Ansel Adams in 1942 in Northern Arizona at Canyon de Chelly National Monument. This photograph is black and white as most of his photos were. In 1941 the National Park Service commissioned Adams to create a photo mural for the Department of the Interior Building in Washington, DC. The theme was to be nature as exemplified and protected in the U.S. National Parks. The project was halted because of World War II and never resumed. This photo mural included the photo of Canyon de Chelly National Monument, this is the reason the photograph was taken.
Ansel Adams was a photographer, and an environmentalist most of his work was done for the purpose of pleasure, and because most of the places he was photographing had never been photographed before. He was also an Outdoor Enthusiast that was well involved with the Sierra Club and many other organizations of his time. It is actually because of the Sierra Club that most of his work got recognized and published.
I chose this particular photograph of Canyon de Chilly because of the canyon. The Canyons of the four corner region of the United States are such a beautiful and spectacular area, which has been relatively untouched by any modern society. For my artwork I have chosen to take a photo of Dark Canyon in Southern Utah. I chose the late-afternoon to get the best shadows inside the canyon and to not have to much glare from the sun. I have edited the photo in Photoshop to bring out more color in the red rock, and also to add more contrast to the sky, that originally looked rather bland because of the clear sky of the day. I have also added a title to the image with a gradient to bring out more contrast in the lettering. Finally I added a poem by Edward Abby from Desert Solitaire. Desert Solitaire is a book in general about the Southwest and the four corner region where both of these photos were taken at. I feel that this poem brings out more meaning in the photograph and also adds to the spirit of the poem.
