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Ansel Adams: Singular Images
New York Graphic Society, 1974, 78 pages
ISBN 0-8212-0728-8

Ansel Adams is renowned not just as a great photographer, but also as a talented darkroom worker. If you have ever seen one of those comparisons showing a straight, unmanipulated print from one of his negatives alongside an exhibition print from the same negative, you'll understand just how much his darkroom skills contributed to his photographs.

The photographs in this book, however, were mostly shot with small format Polaroid instant print films. They were reproduced at actual size from the original instant prints, so no darkroom manipulation of any kind was possible. This gives us a chance to see just how capable Adams was simply as a photographer.

The result is a collection of black & white images of surprising quality. A wide variety of subjects are included, and although the landscapes suffer a bit from the small reproduction size, there are some fine portraits, and the architectural studies are gorgeous.

The final 13 images were photographed on Polaroid positive/negative film that creates a negative, and were enlarged and printed in a darkroom, but it's not clear if any darkroom manipulation was done with them.

The book includes introductory essays by Edwin Land, Ansel Adams, and Jon Holmes, and concludes with a piece by David Hunter McAlpin where he recounts the many photographic expeditions that he took with Adams.

This book reaffirms both Adams' reputation as a photographer, and Polaroid film's suitability as an artistic medium.