I’m tempted to say “fine work,” but I’m not sure that it is fine. Passable, certainly – but not great.

I get this from a limited view: from “Ansel Adams in Color,” to be exact. There were things that I found that broke a bit of my mental image of the man: learning that he tried fairly often to create his vision in color but personally felt he failed. That he considered even his better (color) work to be lackluster. That he played with the English language in letters to friends.

And yet, he was not completely dismissive of color. I find it curious (and a bit obvious, in hindsight) that he considered all color tones to be a subtle lie. I find this to be self-evident: colors in photographs are representative, yes. But not spot-on, somewhat limited in their range, and sometimes misleading.

Having read this book now: I’m glad I did.  It’s heartening to see images from the greats that failed to match their mastery, and it’s equally heartening to see his mastery of exposure translated into color.

After just scanning through the first few images, I have to say: I’m a fan.  I big fan.  Rare is the photo that touches a part of the soul.  Jan has created many.

And they’re not ones that you might think, either.  An image of a father’s feet, with his infant’s feed also on the floor.  Instant hit to the animal me, remembering – no, feeling – what it was like to do so with my daughter.

I’m going to let this sink in for a few days, but wow – just a fantastic book.  I definitely need to see more of this man’s work.

Warning: his work isn’t for anyone who is afraid of nudes.  Especially nudes that border on pornography – he really pushes the limits. But he takes them to unexpected areas, and that makes it… fantastic.

I mean, the view was spectacular: clouds rolling in, overhead.  The sky blue, but going hazy – the sun was losing its strength.  But there, in the distance: yes, it’s light, hitting the mountain!  This is a great thing, if only I can show the contrast well.  And in that sense, I think it failed.

Early on, duChemin makes a point about color.  To paraphrase: if color doesn’t add anything to the meaning of the frame, don’t use it.  It will merely dilute the main idea.

Now, Mr. duChemin prefers monotones and duotones.  I’m not really sure what I prefer, although I do have a strong affinity for B&W – especially through NIK’s Silver efex plugin.  So I played around with a few versions, trying to get a feel for things.  What ended up being my favorite:

Hospital again, in B&W

If you view it large, you’ll get the intended effect: the light on the mountains, darkness all around.

This was, perhaps, a tad overdone in processing.  But it makes two points: first, color wasn’t really an integral part of the experience.  Black and white rendering makes that distant brightness really stand out.  Second, the processing in B&W allowed me to focus on really driving in the differences in luminosity, which again drove in the point of there being light in the distance.

Besides, I also got to make it look coolish with the grain and what all…

On review, it looks like Mr. duChemin has quite a bit of backing.  Barely two chapters in, and I’m already excited about reading the rest. To steal and paraphrase a line from the book: finally, a why-to book, instead of a how-to!

If I can get my act together, I’ll go over a few of the photos over the next few days.  Suffice it to say, it contains photos of past greats.  This is a book on portraiture.  But oh, what portraiture!  I have seen many great portraits, and have heard many people talk about how the point is to make a human connection.  Never have I really seen that in action.  The photos I see in this book don’t reflect the person and his/her personality, it amplifies it.

Just a gorgeous book.  Grab it if you can find it!

Mere magazine it is not.

Back in May, you may remember that one of their authors passed away.  The current issue is completely dedicated to him – no photos, just his final thoughts, writings, memoirs from others, and the like.

I’m reading it now.  I highly recommend that you try to get yourself a copy.

And no, you can’t have mine.

One of my resolutions this year was to stop buying technical photo books – start focusing on artsy ones, instead.  It looks like I’ll be breaking my resolution – Trey has finally come out with a book on HDR.  I have absolutely no idea if it’ll be that good or useful for me (although if it’s anything like his work, it’ll be beautiful), but I know I’ll buy it.  It’s titled “A World in HDR“, and can be gotten on Amazon (pre-order) or through Trey’s blog.

I really wish I could afford the packet that Trey’s offering ($60 for autographed book & print), but I’m completely self-funded.  I’m afraid I’ll be going the cheapest route…

This, as opposed to an exhibit being shown right now at the Ansel Adams gallery in Yosemite.  I actually have the book from Bill Atkinson, which covers some of the groundbreaking work with the printing.  I don’t recall exact details and I’m too damn lazy to actually open the book, but I recall there being some incredible works there.

I suppose I’ll have to look at the book again.

The book, in case you’re interested.