Aug 092010
 

It now seems there are some possible doubts about whether the Ansel Adams glass negatives are actually by the great photographer or not. An 87 year old lady from Oakland California saw the story  on a TV news show and spotted that one of the images is almost identical to a photograph hanging on her wall. That particular photograph she believes was shot by her Uncle Earl, who was an amateur photographer living in the Fresno, California, area around the time experts say the glass negatives were made.

This turns the story into a real world example of  images becoming “Orphaned” (a situation where the creator of an image or images cant be identified) to some degree an extreme example of how orphaning can effect the perceived value of a photograph. If they are by Ansel Adams they’re worth an estimated $200 Million Dollars if they are by Uncle Earl they’re worth….. well your guess is as good as mine but you can bet good money  its significantly less than $200 million, yet they are still exactly the same photographs as they were when I posted on the 27th of July.

Jul 272010
 

While the devaluation of  images produced through modern digital photography is making it  harder and harder to earn a living as a professional photographer it seems people still value the work of  great photographers of the past.

Some old glass negatives by Ansel Adams, the legendary American photographer best known for producing stunning landscapes,  inventing the zone metering system and  founding the f64 club have  turned up in garage sale. They were thought to have been destroyed in a fire along with 5000 others back in 1937 their current estimated value $200 Million

I wonder just how many images of today’s nationally and internationally published will stand the test of time and be considered truly outstanding in 70 years time.