Originally Posted by
Michael R 1974
Interestingly, I've been mostly disappointed any time I've seen original prints by Adams, Weston, etc regardless of vintage. With Adams, I grew up on books like Examples, the making of 40 photographs. I was always fascinated by the incredible silvery quality, the length of the tonal scale and the sharpness. They just sparkle, and I couldn't figure out how this could be done. For years I struggled with my own prints, trying to duplicate what I saw in those books. It was my father who first told me not to worry so much because if I ever saw the real prints they don't look as good as in the books. Years later when I finally saw real Adams prints, sure enough they didn't have those magical tones I saw in the books, even the contact prints. I know most people would say the opposite, but for me the images in the books looked really special and the actual prints were just prints. That was actually a good moment for me.
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