'I instinctively felt I had an extraordinary image': Ansel Adams on capturing Moonrise over Hernandez

I remember taking an Ansel Adams photography workshop in 1987 (Ansel had left this world by then) and we went to his house, met Virginia and someone brought out the original negative and print (waaaaay lighter) of this classic shot and I almost fainted. No one said a single word for about 5 minutes. Will never forget!

I seem to recall that Adams himself wrote that a good photograph is one that emotionally resonates or causes emotional response with the viewer. Not sure of precise quote but he essentially admitted that "good" is ultimately subjective. Some don't like Moonrise. Many do. Print or buy what you like.

I was going to comment that, although I love Adams' work, I don't get why this particular shot is so revered. Now I see that the majority of these comments seem to be along the same line. I wonder why this image has achieved the status that it has. (Perhaps that is discussed in the vid. I'll be watching it later.)

I have never understood how this is such a popular specimen of his work. If someone were to post this to one of the DPR forums today, as a new work, it would be ripped apart for various compositional defects, blown highlights, and the central position of the moon. If it did not have the provenance of being one of his works, it would be an OK photo.

I like the video, however, its always good to see well respected artists in human form, rather than ethereal beings of pure thought that float around in art history tomes.

In the video, Ansel suggests he has far better images but people seem to really like this one. I think this was one of those images he saw at the instant he put his foot on the car brakes, but was never quite as happy as every second struggling to get set up, lost some of the intrinsic qualities he had to later work hard in his darkroom to recover. As time passed upon much reflection he darkened the sky even more to further convey and concentrate the mood he felt when he first put his foot on the brake.

Some years ago we had Ansel Adams daughter visit us for lunch. We discussed ‘Moonrise Hernandez’. Her father used to travel with a tripod mounted on the back of a lorry using an 8x10 plate camera. At a retrospective in San Francisco I was able to see the original negative which was actually taken in daylight with the moon clearly visible. The backlit negative was shown with a series of large prints each of them being printed darker finally culminating with the famous print that we all know. Ansel made sketches of each of his works outlining where the print should be darkened or held back. I am pretty sure that he would have loved Photoshop.

Non sure what the fuss is over that snapshot.

Love AA,and all his work, but not this photo...Technically it could be masterpiece, emotionally is failing to excite.

Comparing the "straight" print to the final print AA produced as shown on the computer screens, it is overwhelmingly evident that AA was also an excellent artist and craftsman who was able to metamorphose a regular negative into a work of art.

Photography is not just pressing the shutter and travelling to exotic dangerous places, it is also producing a work of art that could fetch upwards of $600,000 with just a single print.

If AA had Lightroom and Photoshop, he would have a brain explosion from all the excitement of handling this newfangled arsenal.

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This IMO exemplifies the less common meaning of the phrase:

"I prefer to get it right in the [field / camera]."

Interestingly, albeit I like Ansel Adams's work (he is not among my favorite photographers but one master once being in a dark room), I don't find this photo particularly striking.

This is of course subjectivity that speaks...

What is all the hype over this photo for? I realize its somewhat subjective and I am not one who would know how to critique photography, but I don't see what all the fuss is about. I don't eve really like it to tell you the truth.

Thank you for an excellent article.Moonrise has never been anywhere near my favorite Ansel image. Two of his printers told me that if you saw the negative ,you would toss it in the garbage.Now I understand why.And I have far more appreciation for the process.

Kid on the orange banana seat bike at 4:37 ... priceless! Oh Ansel too.

I will take this video, save it somewhere and keep it ready to rub in the face of anyone who whines about modern digital editing as opposed to the 'true' photography done in the old days ...

I was fortunate enough to have attended one of Ansel's touring photo exhibitions at the Chicago Art Institute. There were over 400 photos on display and they were amazing. But, there was one image that absolutely stopped me in my tracks. It was a 40"x60" print of Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park. The emotional impact of that image was beyond words.

Here's the lesson in this: regardless of if your camera/sensor (or film if doing legacy) has deep or shallow dynamic range, make sure to expose for the right middle tones to maximize your potential to manipulate at will. Capture soft & mellow images what many call "flat", save the contrast for post process. I hear people say "bleh.. just shoot raw".. well raw can't capture that which is outside the dynamic range of your equipment - that´s where the photographer´s judgement comes in. That, imho, is what Ansel was best at, capturing the right data onto the film to be able to perform art in the darkroom.

I really enjoyed this. Thank you.

This is golden, what a fantastic post! Thanks!

His darkroom notes are most interesting and reminded me of when I was darkroom printing in college, I used to make similar annotations on paper so I could follow the formula from print to print.

Though crowd... I'm not even all that much of an Ansel Adams fan (there are many photographers who I admire more) and and yet this photo is a really great one in my book... absolutely iconic. The video to me though leaves something to be desired. It's basic points are that the exposure was determined without a meter and that major darkroom work had to happen in order to pull out what was truly great about the image. Both of these things seem to be pretty much common knowledge and the video doesn't really ad any new revelations or go into much tech detail that would be interesting to those of us who understand anything about this sort of stuff...

Love it. Thanks for sharing DPR ;).
I met Ansel when I was a child before he died. My step father idolized him and took us on a trip to see him. I credit my step father and Ansel's work as a spark that first interested me in photography many years ago.

Interesting video, but I don't understand why this particular photo is so popular. I enjoy a lot of Ansel Adams' work much more.

I never understood the big deal with this image until March of last year when I saw the actual print for the first time. Then my eyes were opened. A beautiful and amazing print it was.

Adams used everything available to him from the camera, the film and the processing. He also used high contrast developers and paper to craft his work. He had a technique. Other great photographers captured images and developed them in the original exposure. They relied on capturing the Image in its original light. Adams often shot about ev +.3. He knew he could burn in the image to balance the exposure. Then use developers that added more contrast as with the paper. He also understood the dynamic range of his film. Many who never processed their own prints are not aware of how dynamic the process. Lens filters added yet another dimension and it took time and skill to create a great photo.
Today we have photoshop which in the right hands is an incredible tool and I know Adams would have embraced it.

Easily the most thought provoking article I have seen here in a long time.

In the late 50s I worked as a bike repairman in Yosemite Valley. I was a college junior but heavily into photography. My boss gave me an extra hour on my lunch breaks so I could chase down Ansel's workshops. I listened intensely.
Later in San Diego after 10 years as a commercial photographer I opened "Industrial Photo Supply". I carried Ansel's favorite film, an Agfa 120 film.
One day Ansel came in. He asked about the price of film and I told him. He asked if he could get a discount. I asked him the price of an 11x14 print of my favorite shot, "Winter Sunrise Lone Pine". He replied $150 but no discount available. I sold him the film without a discount but didn't have the money for the print.
Years later the print sold for nearly $20,000.
Oh well!
He was the best in his day, an innovator, my hero and a great inspiration.
I am much better off for having rubbed shoulders with him.

ZZZZZZZ. ZZZ. ZZZZZZZZZZ. It's called Photoshop, Ansel lovers.

Just a brief comment here about the great difference between the before and after pictures, which I think should come as no particular surprise. The full Moon is so much brighter than the dark sky, the contrast between the two exceeds both the latitude of film and the dynamic range of current digital cameras. The key to getting an image of a well exposed nearly-full Moon along with a decently illuminated foreground in a single shot (as in the Moonrise picture) is to shoot when the sky is still fairly bright, that is, when the almost-full (99%) Moon has risen above the Eastern horizon before the Sun has set below the Western horizon. That usually takes a bit of advanced planning, but it's easily done.

Well, never liked this image. Love Ansel Adams and his work in general.

I've seen this part of the Ansel Adams Doku many times the past years - "Moonrise over Hernandez" is one of Ansels best work, i know this picture since i was 10 or 11...and i still love it. Ansel was truly *the* Landscape Photographer & Pioneer into many ways - he also invented the Zone System. If Ansel would live still today, and could use current Tech, what would he made with this..is the Question.

Henri-Cartier Bresson was *the* Street Photographer, Ansels was Landscape, and the Yellow Stone Nationalpark.

One should really have read "The Camera, The Print & The Negative" from Ansel Adams.

Also way interesting from Ansel Adams, "Exclusive Look Into Ansel Adams' Home and Darkroom"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZlovMptjyQ

Ansel Adams - A Documentary Film 2002

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvt1ImIKi0U

haha, how many times I whipped the car over to get a shot with the kids in the car.

I try to explain it to people but they just don't get it. I'm always looking at the world though I'm looking through a OVF.

I remember seeing a copy of the photo in a UK photography magazine in the early 1980's just after I had started to get interested in photography and I thought then, as I do now, it is an amazing photo. Many thanks for some of the back story.

I love a lot of his images, but honestly...the moonrise shot is not one of them.

I grew up shooting color slides, getting to the point of buying a bulk loader and doing E-6 processing in my parent's laundry room sink. If it didn't happen in-camera, it didn't happen, period.

So at the risk of being ex-communicated, I've got to say I never 'got' the appeal of Adams, and all that hushed talk of tonality. I had a wet darkroom in my basement, and did a massive amount of B&W for my high-school yearbook and newspaper, but the dodging and burning was strictly utilitarian; I never enjoyed that part of the process. Creativity comes in all forms, I guess, so to each his (or her) own.

Ansel Adams is well known not only in the US. I still remember that my grandpa showed me this picture while I was a kid starting to lean how to shoot.

Many years past, but I still think Ansel Adams is the best B&W landscape photographer ever.

A few years ago my wife and I were vacationing in NM and while driving I asked her for a map check (I was either hungry or needing a bathroom). She replied, we just passed through a dot called Hernández... I think I scared the hell out of her when I slammed on the brakes and said, that Hernández? She had no clue, but for the next 20 minutes she let me search for some spot along the road that appeared in some black and white picture. The area is now heavily overgrown and the foreground is divided into yards and parking lots... but I saw the white crosses of the grave yard and then the church... BINGO! I walked through the graveyard with my wife trailing behind, until she saw the molted snake skin... she was thinking I lost my mind until she saw the name on the property across the tiny dirt road in front of the church: Moonrise Ranch! I think I spent more time there than Ansell did... my Canon 50D image was no match for his view camera, talent, and expertise.

I was in Tucson last February & stopped by the Center for Creative Photography at Univ. Of Arizona to see a "Treasures of the CCP" exhibit where a large print of Hernandez Moonrise was on display. Near by was a metal print cabinet where one could open a large tray to see the original negative, an original working print, Adams's printing notes, & other pertaining papers. I was shocked at the dullness of the negative and by how flat and bland the straight print is. If it had been my negative & print, I probably would have tossed them, thinking I'd failed to get the exposure. I was also impressed by the detail and meticulousness of Adams's printing notes (seen in the video). It's a reminder that even the giants had to work hard to pull an excellent image out of the ordinary.

Funny that one so meticulous, exacting, & experienced as Adams couldn't find his light meter at the time!

In the new Arbus biography it says she didn't use a meter & rarely did printing manipulation. Interesting...

That image would have been missed today by the "photographer" Mulling which lens would give the best bokeh, what metering pattern to use, what ISO to use, what aperture to use, JPG or RAW? (I'm scared of RAW but I hear its good), What Art filter to use? should I Instagram it immediately? etc.
It used to be fun to look at the world instead of the menu.