Ansel Adams Garage Sale Mystery Apparently Solved
The mystery of the Ansel Adams garage sale negatives keeps taking on new twists, but the latest twist might have solved it once and for all.
KTVU in Oakland is reporting that a Bay Area woman named Mariam l. Walton has come forward with apparently solid proof that the photographs were not taken by Ansel Adams but her Uncle Earl. She was watching KTVU report on the story Tuesday when she suddenly saw a photograph of the Jeffrey Pine on Sentinal Dome and recognized it as a print her uncle Earl Brooks made back in 1923.
You can watch the segment and check out the pictures here.
Upon hearing this story, the fact that the clouds in the two photographs were different made me quite skeptical that the found photo was the same as Uncle Earl’s. However, I decided to investigate a bit further. Here’s a screenshot of Uncle Earl’s photograph shown in the segment:
Now, taking that screenshot and a screenshot of the photo found by Rick Norsigian in Fresno, I used Photoshop’s Auto-Align feature to match up the features in the photograph for comparison. Now here’s Norsigian’s photo aligned with the previous one. You can hover your mouse over it to overlay Uncle Earl’s for comparison:
Although the Jeffrey Pine that stood on Sentinal Dome was a well known landmark and often photographed, the fact that the lighting in the photographs match exactly seem to indicate that the two photos were in fact taken in the same session. Furthermore, notice how the branches and leaves in the two photos seem to match exactly. The uncanny similarity between the lighting and the trees seems to show that Norsigian’s photograph was indeed taken by Uncle Earl.
Keep in mind that we’re doing this comparison based on low resolution screenshots of the two photos. If we had access to the real things, this technique might reveal an even higher degree of similarity.
Oh… and did we mention Uncle Earl lived in Fresno (where the negatives were purchased) and often took photos in Yosemite?
If the photographs are indeed Uncle Earl’s and not Ansel’s, then it would appear that much of the “evidence” that was examined by experts and presented to the public was faked, and that the whole story is indeed a $200 million con.
What do you think?
(via The Online Photographer)
Image credits: Screenshots taken from broadcast by Oakland’s Channel 2
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No, that number was pulled out of thin air. A giant-sized Ansel print just sold for $775,000, which is a record. For normal sized prints they go from $5000 to $50,000 (rare, vintage). Big numbers but a long, long way from $200,000,000.
You can buy prints made from his negatives–even many of his iconic images–for only $225 at the Ansel Adams gallery in Yosemite. They look great, printed by Ansel's long-time assistant.
Two things add value to an Ansel print. Having Ansel actually make the print and having a print from near the time the negative was taken. It's all about rarity.
>>3. The snowline on a sunny day can move within hours.<<
At that distance I find it hard to believe anyone could say anything meaningful about the distant snowline.
>>Ansel worked alone, without Virginia or apprentices.<<
Well, wrong. Ansel often traveled in groups of friends of with fellow hikers–he often was the organizer of such expeditions. For example, when he made his famous glass plate image of “Monolith” he was with Virginia and several others. I believe Virginia made movies of parts of that trip. See Ansel's book “Making of Forty Photographs” for details.
In any event, since we are compating a known Uncle Earl image with an unknown image your logic conforms it is Uncle Earl's.
Exactly! Which is what makes “US” as Americans look even more ridiculous if we pay that much for a photo or photo's no matter who takes it…Ansel Adams or Mickey Mouse. Who in their right mind would give 200 million dollars for photos when people in our country AND other countries are dying from starvation and illnesses with no cures? I sure hope they can sleep at night!
I have got an ex – wife posing naked for me while I took the photo with a polaroid in our bed at our house AND then a year later in a bar a guy and I were talking about the weather and when the subject came around to women, he whips out this polaroid of MY WIFE that looked like he swiped the original from my home. The wife, the same pose, the same naked body, the same bed, the same house, the same shadows casting from my bed side lamp. Thank fully before I punched him for breaking into my house, I reached into my wallet, and found the folded polaroid I HAD TAKEN. I was relieved.
Maybe is an Ansel Adams.
Not only are people starving in this world but what about the people who live on the streets or who are losing their homes and livelihoods…come on people…what are we doing to this country?! Please stop and think about your fellow man before buying some photo's for 200 million…no wait, I just took some really beautiful photo's of the Adirondack Mountains where I live that are absolutely beautiful…anybody want to buy them? Only asking $500,000…going once…going twice…SOLD to the Sucker in blue! Gee thanks…I'll be thinking of you when I'm drinking “Mai Tai's” and lying on the beach in the Honolulu and laughing all the way to the bank!
I agree with you 100%! And I'll do one better to “Offers1999's” response to your photo's…I'll give you $10 dollars, a case of peanuts AND pay my own “Shipping & Handling”! DEAL?
Righto! I agree 100%. I have this picture of a bridge by Ansel Adams that I'd like to sell to you and I have the same bridge photographed by Mickey Mouse…which is worth more? But Mickey Mouse says that Ansel Adams took the photo…
Sorry for the confusion…Mickey says Ansel took the photo that everyone else claims that “he, Mickey Mouse took”. Therefore, Ansel took both pics because the clouds are only seconds apart so he also took them on the same day…OR maybe Mickey took BOTH pics and is only saying Ansel took them so he can CASH IN and FINALLY RETIRE to the Bahama's and have that “Mai Tai” with me. You rock Mickey!!!
nicely said
LOL…you can see the “clouds on the left hand side actually MOVE”?! Wow, YOU are a GREAT Photographer! I, for one…am IMPRESSED with your abilities (BTW, I hope YOU were being sarcastic…if not…I have some photos that I'd like to sell you of the Adirondack Mountains where you can actually see the bears having a picnic and roasting marshmallows.
HUH?????!!!!!!! ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!! Thanks for making my day!
Way too funny! But a TRUE PARODY of this situation! I applaud your talent! Ever think of writing?
Yeah, I for one would like to see more of these so-called “Uncle Earle's” photos and I'd like to know more about this mysterious “Uncle Earle”. I think he is just trying to make some money off from AA because there is NO WAY on God's green earth that he could take a quality photo of beauty that even compares to AA's work. Like you say how could “Uncle Earle” get such similar shadows, leaves and clouds? Unless “Uncle Earle” took both pics OR maybe “Uncle Earle” is really AA…trying to get some extra press coverage. Wouldn't that be a hoot!! But then again AA died in 1984…or did he?! Maybe, just maybe, he faked his own despise so his artwork would appreciate and be worth more. This is definitely a job for “48 Hour Mystery”.
Yeah, I for one would like to see more of these so-called “Uncle Earle's” photos and I'd like to know more about this mysterious “Uncle Earle”. I think he is just trying to make some money off from AA because there is NO WAY on God's green earth that he could take a quality photo of beauty that even compares to AA's work. Like you say how could “Uncle Earle” get such similar shadows, leaves and clouds? Unless “Uncle Earle” took both pics OR maybe “Uncle Earle” is really AA…trying to get some extra press coverage. Wouldn't that be a hoot!! But then again AA died in 1984…or did he?! Maybe, just maybe, he faked his own despise so his artwork would appreciate and be worth more. This is definitely a job for “48 Hour Mystery”.
Like I said…this is a job for “48 hour Mystery”! Who took the photo…it just chills my spine! I will not get any sleep until the authorities find out and this case of “was it AA, Uncle Earle or Mickey Mouse” is solved once and for all!
…didn't you mean there are three people in every photograph? You forgot one…”The photographer, the viewer”…and the idiot who pays $200 million for it!
I think the point is that these are not great photos, but they would be from an early period of an artist who improved. It's a bit like finding finger paintings done by Rembrandt, or maybe his work when he was just starting out but had not perfected his craft. They are valuable because they show the beginning of the maturation process of an artist who captured the imagination. Not because they are great in and of themselves. So if they are Uncle Earl's, they are just pictures taken by a photographer who was okay, but not great or well known.
Who in Hell is Uncle Earl(e)??? And why should we care? The photo(s) in question are good … that'd all that matters!! I imagine that “Uncle Earle(e) doesn't care either wherever he is!!
One reason for making two plates of the same subject–Ansel did this too–is to try a different filter. Photographers shooting B&W use yellow or red filters to make clouds stand out more. This also cuts through atmospheric haze.
Notice that even though the Norsigian image is reproduced with darker contrast in this comparison, the horizon looks lighter and hazier on that one.
My bet is on Uncle Earl wanting to try two versions, with different filters, and the clouds shifted a bit during the time he made the swap.
That skew in the auto-align was probably because the TV crew filmed Mrs. Walton's print at a slight tilt. Check the news story footage:
http://www.ktvu.com/news/24432262/detail.html
Her Uncle Earl prints are framed and under glass; so the TV crew probably didn't want their cameraman's reflection in the shot, right? ;-)
I thought that they identified the pencil writing on the envelopes as being Ansel Adams' wife's handwriting. So, what's up with that now?
The round image on the right of the mystery picture is part of the KTVU 2 station logo. This is a video screen capture from their nightly newscast. Comparing these two low-res screen captures really proves nothing. (I don't personally think these *are* Adams negatives, but I'm trying to keep an open mind on the subject.)
[...] * The latest in the $45/$200,000,000 Ansel Adams negatives saga: the interesting copyright issues involved have been short-circuited by the revelation that the negatives are probably the work of someone’s Uncle Earl. [...]
the picture is taken by the same person with a time difference probably long enough to reload the old manual type camera in those days it would take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes or longer just to take out the used film-frame and reload those giant size frames and at the main time the sun, clouds have moved and start to slowly coming apart. Look at it again. The position of the photographer has not moved because of its stationary giant size tripod but the time, sun, and clouds have moved long enough to do the manual process of load/reload those dino-days of a stationary camera. LOL!!!!!!
You people are making a hill out of a MOLE. Go figure. Nobody want to be fooled but there it is….gazillion dollars paid for a piece of black and white paper that is not to most people including me worth a spit. Fools and their money….soon Parted. Serves you right.
but then again i could be wrong because if one person took two shot from the same camera with time difference, then there should be two negatives on file although negative in those days are also singular which could only means that he took two shot with the intention to keep one with negative, and sell the other one with negative as well which would then explain why there is no extra negative for the other shot. That's my deduction. They should have given that money to the human society instead of letting get themselves swindled by some “photo-expert” get real nobody is really expert in anything. Everyone is learning and making it up as they go and most swindlers like to go with dead famous people's work just to make an extra buck with out sweating. Like nobody ever heard of someone selling the London bridge for a two-dollar bill.
LOL…glad you enjoyed my posts! I am thinking about writing a book…think anybody would buy it at an auction for 200 million? Oh, shucks…I'm not established yet!
If I send you my phone will you take a pic for me? Or better yet, I can just send you my phone number and you can send me yours and I'll sell it for 10K. It'll save me from buying your phone at your next garage sale…how's that? ;-) Hey, don't thank me you aren't getting any of the profits…I only share with Mickey!
Sorry Diane in NC…that last comment was for Lr7660…I hit the wrong comment button as I was taking pictures…honest mistake. Pictures of what or who you ask? Just…a good ol' boy named “Smokey”! I'm not taking any more pictures of trees and clouds…it's just too controversial right now.
They is suck the dick!
I know what has happened….. the grandson has paid this lady some big bucks to come up with this story so the pictures will be worthless and then perhaps he can get them from the person who got it at the yard sale for maybe twice what he gave and then he will authenticate them and put them in his gallery … everybody walks away some some money in there pockets………… just some food for thought LOL
Back in the 80s, I did some extensive photography out on the Monterrey Peninsula and I have a photo that is strikingly similar. That makes me one of about a zillion people who can make the same claim. So let's end all the speculation right now: Mine is NOT an original Ansel Adams photo. So forget the $200 Million price tag. I'll let mine go for a mere $5 million. Postage & Handling extra.
clouds move in minutes and look different.also they shield the sun and change the shadows. But someone is greedy in this story, having held them back for years to “authenticate” them. you choose whom.
This is why we have jails, finally use them to put away people like this till they are fit to walk among us!
My the guy pay 200 M to people who need it.
Let's see…who has a motive to lie here, the old lady or the guy who wants $200 million. Uncle Earl was just as good as Adams!
[...] $US200 million were actually taken by somebody’s Uncle Earle. Still, nice eye, Uncle Earle. [Petapixel via Animal via Daily What] Tagged:ansel [...]
if you have ever spent time in a black and white dark room, you know how much exposure controls will change clouds from print to print. As you adjust the exposure and contrast settings it will change how much of the cloud you see drastically. the overly looks just like the kind of variation that I would expect to see from two prints made from the same negative at different times.
Much of the value comes from the fact that they are previously unknown works and also of historical interest. For example, if you found Pablo Picassos sketchbook, it would be worth a lot. Not because his doodles and salsa stains are a lot better than anyone else's, but because
a) no one has seen this part of his body of work before
b) it could fill in gaps in how his work evolved,
c) shed light on thinking behind other works
d) complete his “history” ie what days he shot on, who saw what photos, where he took them, why these were hidden…
Im not saying 20 million is right or wrong if these prints were real, but you can't just judge one photograph, one painting, one doodle, against another, when one is part of something of historical and artistic interest. A lot of art is subjective, and what its worth is based on what its worth to other people. Adams had a big impact on the art world, and anything that could add to his impact, flesh it out, give insight, and complete his history while also being a new image…well that it IS worth a lot of than just a photo of a tree.
So yes a doodle by Monet is worth more than my finest painting. A trashed Ansel Adams negative is worth than my photos. A note by Abe Lincoln to get more milk is worth more than my all my emails.
Funny to me how essentially the same photo taken at the same time under a different name is a difference of $200 million.
So we should ALL BE PRAISING the work of the LEGENDARY Uncle Earl NOT Ansel Adams? Granted they're both great artists, but I can't believe the work of Uncle Earl is not in a museum somewhere? He's no average Joe! Tell me if I'm wrong but those shots, look way better than Adams'…
It look like the two pictures come from the same camera. Maybe 10-15 minutes apart.
Some experts! The clouds definitely show some movement, but unless Uncle Earl and Ansel Adams were there within minutes or an hour at best of each other in exactly the same spot, I think these are Uncle Earl's. Nearly impossible to be Ansel Adams.
The clouds appear to me to be the same clouds, simply off by a a number of minutes, 5 to 15, maybe twenty. Everything else is clearly exactly the same. Remember that this was using view cameras. Even working quickly, making small changes in shutter speed and aperture, focus, and changing film backs can take a couple of minutes. It wasn't just click, click click. The clouds are NOT different, they are the same, but older, changed and moved. Evolved, slightly dissipated. They are simply too similar for chance. I bet you could have stood on that spot for twenty years and not seen the same cloud formations evolve.
Clearly, its the Uncles work. Thats gotta be a letdown for the guy who bought them, and a real kick in the teeth for the reputation of those who 'authenticated' them as Ansel's work.
Hmmm…since the “mystery” has as yet not been resolved beyond all doubt (I myself lean one way on some points, and the other way on still other points); allow me to add an idea to the mix for folks to chew on…what if all of this is actually a plot/conspiracy meant to devalue works that really were done by Adams? The price goes through the floor, a handful (at most) of involved people end up quietly acquiring the shots, and a later date, “new” evidence presents itself showing the pics to be genuine…now those same folks are in possession of the gold mine, and due to all the hoopla back-n-forth the going rate would likely be a good deal higher still.
This isn't a theory I hold mind you, just a passing fancy in an old guys creative imaginings. ;-)
I'm surprised by many of the “expert” comments I am reading here. Many seem to point to the fact that the clouds are different as proof that they are not the same picture. NEWS FLASH – No one ever said they were the SAME photo. What people are saying is that the location of the leaves, shadows, and rocks indicates that both were taken with the CAMERA in the exact same position. Unlikely, that two different photographers would place their equipment in exactly the same place at the the exact time of day (shadows). The movement of the clouds indicates that these are two photos taken by the same photographer seconds (or minutes) apart without moving the camera.
How many of you experts set up your equipment and only take one snapshot. You don't. You take several pictures using different settings. Then you select the best of the bunch.
[...] Looks like it’s not that easy, A local resident is claiming they’re Uncle Earl’s pics… and the Ansel Adams estate doesn’t seem convinced [...]
It not the technique nor the film type that Ansel Adams photographs are about. It is about the beauty and grandeur of the lanscape.
Court records reveal that Mr. Streets, who set the value for the negatives and is handling the related sales, is a convicted felon with a criminal record for petty theft and fraud in Louisiana and Kentucky. Though he says on his Web site, davidstreetsbeverlyhills.com, that he has 25 years of fine-art appraisal experience, two of Mr. Streets’s former employers say his true talent is in the embellishment of his credentials.
Doris Allen, who owns the Bryant Galleries in New Orleans, says that though Mr. Streets, 45, can be “very charming,” he had said he had no appraisal experience when she hired him at her business in 2000. Now she is amazed to see him occupy an influential role in a national art debate. “How can he get up there and claim that those negatives are worth $200 million?” she said. “That is absurd.”
Taken for story in New York Times, Saturday 8/14
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/14/arts/design/14photos.html
[...] Ansel Adams negatives [...]
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[...] 09:58 PM Ansel Adams Garage Sale Mystery Apparently Solved These negative's aren't Ansel Adams', they are Uncle Earl's ————————— [...]