Ansel Adams in Color

I ran across this book at Barnes and Noble the other day and spent some time looking at it. I am very impressed. I own a couple of Ansel Adams books and am a huge fan of his images. I would expect that there isn't a nature photographer out there who can't trace his interest in nature photography back to Adams in some way. He did amazing things for photography and conservation. It is especially nice to see color images that he made, as most of us have never seen them and think of him only as a b&w photographer. I will be adding this book to my collection soon.

I am surprised at the controversy over the book being ginned up by some about whether the book should have been published or not (see the comments on the Amazon page to get an idea). Who are these self appointed gatekeepers of Adams' legacy anyway? Apparently it was Adams' wishes to have none of his color photographs published, as he didn't feel they best represented his vision. The problem is, is that we are getting that information secondhand; maybe he said it, maybe he didn't. Either way, the photos give us a look at another facet of Adams. It can only be for our good to see these images. Certainly, as one comment I read noted, these aren't his finest photos. Who cares? They are still great shots, better than I take. And they help me to learn a little more about Adams' and his creative vision, if only to tell me what his vision wasn't. I have a hard time believing that the art world would be in an outrage if a new Van Gogh painting were discovered, one that was supposedly to remain private.