Ansel Adams: Half Dome, Blowing Snow. © Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust
I have no idea when I was first entranced by the photos of Ansel Adams.  There is a wonderful, luminous quality to his work. Small wonder he is America’s best known landscape photographer. Collections of his work would make a worthy addition to any photographer’s library. This is also the time of year that Ansel Adams calendars pop up like snowstorms.
The best advice I can give you is not to buy any collection of Adam’s work, either book or calendar unless it is published by Little, Brown and Company, or by NYGS (New York Graphic Society, which is also published by Little, Brown).
Why?
Because they have an excellent relationship with the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust and they take meticulous care with the reproductions of Adam’s photos which are copyrighted by the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust.
Some of Adam’s work is in the public domain (like his work for the U.S. Government), and his public domain work has been published by a number of companies and the reproduction qualities can be very poor. Once upon a time I bought an Ansel Adams calendar (which wasn’t published by Little, Brown/NYGS) and I was surprised by how blurry the photos looked. Live and learn.
Whether you are looking for books or calendars, stick to Little, Brown (& NYGS) and you won’t be disappointed. Buy from other publishers at your own risk.
Ansel Adams: White House Ruin. © Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust
But where to begin? A good place to start is The Portfolios of Ansel Adams. It has seven portfolios of Adam’s work, each one with 10 or more individual prints. It makes an excellent introduction. I also highly recommend Examples: The Making of Forty Photographs, Yosemite and the Range of Light and The Grand Canyon and the Southwest.
Adams borrowed from his training as a musician when he famously described the negative as the score and the print as the performance. His interpretation of his negatives changed dramatically over the years. Looking at his early interpretations can be surprising, almost shocking when compared to his better know and later interpretations via his prints.These changes have been documented in Ansel Adams at 100 a fascinating collection of his work, edited by John Szarkowski.
If you are looking for a calendar, most any calendar published by Little, Brown will be a year round feast. If you have the heart and soul of a landscape photographer, it will be hard to look at Adam’s glorious images without wanting to grab your camera and go out and create something wonderful yourself.
Enjoy!