Frozen Lake and Cliffs, the Sierra Nevada, Sequoia National Park, California Possibly 1932 - 1980

Ansel Adams made this photograph of a frozen lake and cliffs in the Sierra Nevada, California. It's all blacks, whites, and grays. I can imagine Adams out there in the cold, composing this shot, thinking about light and shadow like a painter thinks about color. I wonder if he saw it as a kind of abstract composition? I feel like he’s pushing the boundaries of what a landscape photograph can be. Look how the texture of the rock contrasts with the smoothness of the ice! And there’s this dark, almost velvety blackness at the bottom, like a Rothko painting. I can almost feel the chill in the air! He must have been freezing. Artists are such dedicated weirdos! Adams must have been thinking about light and the way it sculpts the landscape, and the way his work converses with the history of painting.