In The Style of Ansel Adams: Crafting The Fine Silver Image
Instructor: Alan Ross
2025 Date: October 7 - 11
Focus: Darkroom/Field
Medium: Film
An expressive, tonally rich, silver image represents the ultimate blend of vision, passion and craft. No other photographer achieved this delicate balance more consistently or more successfully than Ansel Adams. Now you can connect Ansel’s approach and mastery with your own photography in this five-day inspirational workshop designed for film-based photographers wanting to hone their vision and advance their technique in the style of Ansel Adams.
Overview
Ansel Adams liked to say that the negative is the score and the print the performance. He set the standard for knowing how to best compose a “score,” what “notes” to emphasize and how to follow up with a “performance” of the richest tones possible to create his iconic silver images.
Immerse yourself in the magic and methodology of his traditional darkroom mastery under the patient and expert guidance of Alan Ross, Ansel’s last field assistant and a master in traditional film photography and darkroom printing.
This workshop is a comprehensive hands-on tutorial for intermediate and advanced practitioners of traditional black-and-white silver photography.
Over the five-day session, Alan will explain and carefully demonstrate the techniques and approaches he learned working side-by-side with Ansel to create a nuanced, tonally rich, fine silver image, from exposure to the expressive print.
FALL 2025 – October 7 - 11
This workshop is scheduled for early Autumn which should provide participants with great photographic opportunities throughout Yosemite National Park. This is typically when the aspen trees are turning color in the High Country, and we may also see some color changes at lower elevations in the valley. The weather can be glorious, but it is also known to rain or even snow, with commensurate clouds and mist.
Workshop Details
| In The Style of Ansel Adams | |
|---|---|
| INSTRUCTOR | Alan Ross |
| FOCUS | Darkroom / Field |
| MEDIUM | Film |
| LEVEL | Intermediate to Advanced |
| ATTENDEES | 8 |
| TUITION | $1850 |
| MATERIAL FEE | $50 |
Each day will be a combination of field/camera work and film processing and review. Alan will do several printing demonstrations using student negatives, and also introduce his Selective Masking technique for controlled dodging and burning…a technique that can make the impossible-to-print negatives, possible.
In addition to reviewing your existing prints, which you are encouraged to bring, Alan will provide continuous support to each participant, personally helping you improve your film and darkroom skills.
Among the topics covered:
- Evaluating a scene and organizing the details to zero in on the essence of an image
- View camera features and tricks
- Optics and lens choice
- Calculating exposure using aspects of the Zone System
- Managing depth of field
- Hyperfocal distance—what is it and how to use it
- Film testing and calculating your personal film speed & development time
- Tonality
- Visualizing the effects of your camera work
- Decisions at the time of exposure to help in printing
- Field work tips and tricks
- Tray or tank processing
- Scanning your negatives and creating a digital contact sheet
- Test printing
- Finishing and presentation
Evenings will be spent processing film, scanning negatives and evaluating our work. By the end of the workshop, you will have a solid understanding of the approaches and techniques essential to the creation of a meaningful and compelling black-and-white silver gelatin image.
Note: All participants will have the opportunity to process and review their film. Actual printing will be demonstration-only, with Alan using participant negatives.
About the Instructor
Alan Ross is a master photographer who worked side-by-side with Ansel Adams as his photographic assistant, in the field and in the darkroom, and who knows Ansel’s approach and technique perhaps better than other any photographer today. He was personally selected by Ansel to be the exclusive printer of the Yosemite Special Edition Photographs and expects to make his 100,000th print sometime soon. Alan specializes in helping photographers at any level identify and better express their photographic vision and has led workshops in locations ranging from the scenic Southwest to the mountains of China. His photographs hang in collections and galleries around the world and have been featured in campaigns for companies like Boeing, Nike, IBM and the National Park Service.
Workshop FAQ
Find answers to your questions about our Photography Workshops in our FAQ. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you need additional help. You can reach us by email at photoed@anseladams.com or by phone (650) 692-3495.
Clothing / Dressing for the Elements
Physical Limitations Statement
This workshop may involve some walking and hiking around uneven, hilly, and rocky locations that may present a challenge to some attendees. The gallery workshop team requests your individual judgment to abstain from workshop activities that may be beyond your capabilities.
Although the workshop instructors will try to accommodate all attendees, please be advised that the gallery relies on your abstinence should you feel that a site location may not be safe for you.
Cancellation Policy
The Ansel Adams Gallery Multiple Day Workshop Cancellation Policy: We rely on your confirmed attendance to make important arrangements for the workshop. If you need to cancel, please inform a gallery representative in writing no fewer than 60 days prior to the first day of your scheduled workshop for a partial refund of your tuition that reflects the 10% non-refundable administration charge. Refunds cannot be made for cancellations initiated within 60 days of the first day of the scheduled workshop, or for no-shows, for any reason.
If you are concerned with the possibility of cancellation, please consider purchasing travel insurance.
Workshop registration is NOT transferable.
In the extremely rare event that The Ansel Adams Gallery needs to cancel a workshop, the gallery will refund your full tuition. However, The Ansel Adams Gallery will not be responsible for non-refundable airline tickets, car rentals charges, lodging reservations, or any other expense outside of the workshop tuition.
Lodging reservations made through Yosemite Hospitality - Aramark are fully refundable 14 days in advance of the scheduled first day of check in.
It is recommended not to purchase airline tickets or make non-refundable deposits on lodging that cannot be canceled 14 days prior to the initiation of the workshop event.
The Ansel Adams Gallery highly recommends travel insurance to help with an unfortunate travel event.
