From Glacier Point 1927

Ansel Adams's photograph captures Yosemite's majestic Half Dome in silvery monochrome tones. I can imagine Adams positioning his camera, tweaking the settings, waiting for the light to be just right. Look how that strong vertical tree trunk on the left anchors the scene. It's like a counterpoint to the grandeur of the mountains. Maybe he was thinking about how humans and nature coexist, or the insignificance of one against the scale of the other? Photography, like painting, is about seeing, feeling, and then translating that into a medium – here, light on film. It's a conversation between the artist, the subject, and the process itself. I'm always amazed by the different ways artists find to express their vision. They're all in a way, like Adams, trying to pin down something real, something felt, in their own language.