“The real and proper question is: why is it beautiful?”

-Annie Dillard Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

During Bill Davis’ lecture last Thursday I was reminded how beautiful the work of Ansel Adams is. In this day and age, most people exclusively use digital photography. And though digital is convenient and accessible to nearly everyone, the depth and image quality will never be as special as original black and white photography. I feel like so much can be captured in a black and white image. The contrast between the darks and lights and all the shades in between give his images an intense profoundness that a digital camera, no matter how high resolution is it, can’t recreate.

To me these images are so beautiful to me because of the grandness they represent. When you see an overwhelming scene in nature you know you can never fully relay what you’re seeing to someone else; not in pictures and not in words. However, Adams’ photographs can capture a lot. He somehow relays so much emotion and beauty in his images. We’ll never know exactly what he saw, but his work can almost bring us there.