Here is something interesting to read about Ansel Adams and his commerical work.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/12/20/DDG7U3QDG91.DTL

lee\c

Lee, interesting read, thanks for sharing...

Thanks, but for those who haven't clicked it yet, lots of popups on that link.

I think the image of the Patent Leather Bar is in _The Camera_, if I remember correctly. If not there, than one of the other volumes of the Adams trilogy. It is a great architectural interior shot. I'm out of town at the moment and don't have the books handy, but as I recall he uses the image to demonstrate the technique of painting with light. To get some light under the long, curving bar, he or his assistant passed a floodlight along its length, or something like that.

I believe he also did a stint as a school portrait photographer.

Not really... Ted Orland played a joke on Ansel one afternoon. He gained the cooperation of some elementary school students on a field trip to a mission. Distracted Ansel, got the kids in front of Ansel's camera, and snapped a photo of Ansel coming out from under the focusing hood, with the aforementioned class lined up in front of him.

The photo was used on Ted Orland's photographic truths poster.

The details in Ted Orland's book, "Scenes of Wonder and Curiousity". One of the best books about photography.....ever.

Hah! That's a good story.