Ansel Adams:
“My approach to photography is based on my belief in the vigor and values of the world of nature, in aspects of grandeur and minutiae all about us. I believe in growing things, and in the things that have grown and died magnificently. I believe in people, in the simpler aspects of human life, in the relation of man to nature. I believe man must be free, both in spirit and society, that he must build strength into himself, affirming the enormous beauty of the world and acquiring the confidence to see and to express his vision. And I believe in photography as one means of expressing this affirmation and of achieving an ultimate happiness and faith.”
Though I admire his lofty passion, the statement comes off a bit pretentiously, as if he was trying to impress a naive interviewer. Clearly, he never had to lead a crew through a poorly-planned, ten-week schedule of night exteriors in calamitous weather on a distant and inhospitable location.
Who knows? Maybe the luxury to feel that way is what separates stills shooters from cinematographers. But it’s ironic that in those moments when we hit the ball square on the button, everything about the work we do rises to his very sentiment…