From the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles: “ Arguably Ansel Adams's most famous image, this photograph is titled Moonrise rather than Sunset, even though the moon technically does not rise in the sky. As a scholar noted: The factuality and, moreover, the meaning of the setting sun were rejected by him in favor of the expressive symbolism of the rising moon; of the shining luminescence ablaze with greatness in its primal mystery, dramatically isolated in the infinity of darkness. Instead of making an unmanipulated print from the negative, Adams selectively printed the sky black and the foreground dark in order to achieve a particular illumination and spiritual transcendence. The photographer's skill and vision transformed the tiny town of Hernandez, dotted with glowing white cemetery and church crosses, into a spectral landscape.”
Ansel Adams (1902-1984), “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico,” 1941. “We were sailing southward along the highway not far from Española when I glanced to the left and saw an extraordinary situation—an inevitable photograph.“ —Ansel Adams. #photography #darkroomphotography #PhotographyHistory
