It’s Time to Redecorate the Dorm Room: New Ansel Adams Photos Discovered
By Rocky Thompson on July 29th, 2010
A California teacher bought a box of glass negatives and stored them under his pool table for a decade. He joked to friends that they were shot by Ansel Adams since they were Yosemite images, and eventually his joking culminated in an investigation that verified their authenticity and valued them at $200 million. The photos come from Adams early work - most of which was destroyed in a darkroom fire. The man paid $45 for the box at a garage sale after bargaining the previous owner down from $75. On an unrelated note, I’ll sell you a box of garbage for $75 - oh, ok $45 - you never know, it could contain the original Bill of Rights (or a bunch of socks with holes).
via Backpacker
Tags: ansel adams, photography, yosemite
Write a comment…The photographs are beautiful, and the person who sold them at the garage sale has not stopped throwing up since.
I don’t know the truth of this story, but the authenticity of these shots is still in dispute. The one shown here looks suspiciously like a badly dodged enlargement. Weren’t most glass plate negs contact printed. It was possible to enlarge them and a young Ansel would have tried. If so, he certainly hadn’t mastered the technique by this point.