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Item Tag: Limited Edition Print

Ansel Adams ‘Thunderstorm, Yosemite Valley’ Gelatin Silver Photo

Ansel Adams ‘Thunderstorm, Yosemite Valley’ Gelatin Silver Photo Of all the American landscapes that Ansel Adams immortalized through his images, Yosemite was the most deeply personal. In Yosemite he discovered his spiritual home and built his family. He first visited the Park in 1916 and he returned every year thereafter, meeting his wife there and then raising his family within Yosemite’s splendor. Ansel hoped his images would inspire park visitors to become activists for Yosemite’s preservation, instilled with a deeper connection to the natural world and desire to protect it. With that as his main goal, Ansel conceived this series of Yosemite Special Edition Photographs in the late 1950s. With images of Half Dome, Lake Tenaya, Merced River and more, he invited everyone to be of part of his ‘art as activism” by pricing the prints at an affordable cost. We honor that intention today, offering these stunning silver prints to all who wish to express their love for Yosemite and desire to protect it as a natural wonder. · Yosemite Special Edition Photographs are hand-crafted gelatin silver photograph from Ansel’s original negative · Image Size: Approximately 8×10 inches · Expertly mounted and matted to 14×17 inches · Professionally framed in Ansel Adams Special Edition Photograph custom premium gray welded metal frame · Museum quality foam core and signature embossed mat · Tru-Vue Optimum Museum Acrylic® blocks 99% of UV rays, anti-reflective and shatter resistant Yosemite Special Edition Photographs Ansel Adams began the Yosemite Special Edition Photograph series in 1958 to offer beautiful works of art as an affordable alternative to original photographs. Each 8×10 inch silver photograph is hand-crafted from the artist’s original negative by Alan Ross, a master photographer and Ansel Adams’ former assistant. Utilizing the artist’s exacting instructions, or ‘recipes,’ Mr. Ross completes each individual print according to Ansel’s guidance. Exclusive to The Ansel Adams Gallery, Special Edition Black and White Photographs celebrate Ansel’s tribute to Yosemite’s grandeur. Yosemite Special Edition Photographs are the closest photographic reproductions to Ansel’s original masterpieces, painstakingly handcrafted from his negatives by former assistant Alan Ross. Alan Ross worked under Ansel’s direct observation from 1975 until 1984, and has been producing the series in accordance to Ansel’s instructions ever since. Each silver photograph shimmers with brilliance, with richly perfected black and white tones. From a selection of 29 stunning images of Yosemite, each photograph is printed in 8×10 inches and authorized by the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust. Technical Information The Yosemite Special Edition Photographs are quality photographic prints made directly from Ansel Adams’ original negatives, and have been printed since 1975 by Alan Ross, Adams’ assistant from 1974 to 1979. The prints are made by projection rather than by contact, regardless of negative format. This ensures a consistency in finished size and also affords the greatest control of dodging and burning. Most of the negatives in the series are 8×10 format, but other negative sizes include 5×7, 4×5, 31/4×41/4, and 120 rollfilm. The 8×10 and 5×7 negatives are printed in the Beseler 8×10 enlarger designed by Ross, with a custom Aristo 12″x12″ cold-light head. Negatives 4×5 and smaller are printed with an Omega D5500 enlarger with a diffusion color-head. The negatives are printed on Ilford Multigrade Fiber Base paper, double weight, glossy. Using varying strengths of yellow or magenta color-correction (CC) filtration controls print contrast. The prints are developed in Ilford Multigrade developer, usually at 1:16.5 dilution, for 3 minutes. After immersion in a standard acid stop bath they are fixed for 2 minutes in Ilford Universal Fixer, diluted 1:7, and transferred to a large tray of fresh water for a preliminary rinse, and then to a larger, clean-water holding bath. The final processing sequence involves selenium toning; a procedure, which intensifies the blacks of the print and which also, makes the image more permanent. Adams also felt this process gave the print a more appealing image color, neutralizing the usually greenish black tones of an untoned print to a sometimes very slight “cool-purple” black. The selenium toning process for the Special Edition prints consists of three baths. Each of three trays contains a working dilution of Zonal Pro Archival Rinse; the second of these trays is the toning bath (Kodak Rapid Selenium Toner added, 1:10 dilution). The prints are given a minimum of three minutes in the first bath with continuous agitation, and then are transferred to the “toning” bath where they are continuously agitated until the prints have acquired sufficient color and density. They are then transferred to the third bath where they are given intermittent agitation for about five minutes. The prints are transferred to a preliminary rinse in a fresh water bath and then transferred to a large sink where they are rinsed again and held while being loaded into archival print washers. After washing, the prints are squeegeed and laid face down on fiberglass drying screens. The dried prints are “spotted” to remove inevitable dust specks and are then mounted on Light Impressions Westminster board (bright-white 4-ply) with Seal MT-5 dry mounting tissue. Overmat stock, which has been specially letterpress imprinted with the Special Edition logo is bevel cut by hand to accommodate each image. Finally, each print is personally re-inspected and initialed on the back by Alan Ross before shipment to the Gallery in Yosemite.