Merced River from Happy Isles
Archival Pigment Print by Alan Ross
Signed and numbered by artist
Negative: 1975
Mounted and overmatted with 4-ply archival museum board
Available in multiple image sizes
About Artist
Alan Ross is an internationally respected master photographer and educator who expresses his unique vision with a combination of traditional photographic craftsmanship and today’s technology. His tonally exquisite photographs take the viewer from the grandeur of the American West to the changing faces of China to abstractions created by the relationship of objects both natural and man-made. Each image is a pure visual and emotional response to subject matter, executed with an exacting eye and superior technical artistry.
Alan honed his vision and technique while working side-by-side with Ansel Adams in the field and in the darkroom as his full-time photographic assistant. He was integrally involved with Adams’ books, teaching in Yosemite and production of fine prints. Alan was personally selected by Adams to be the exclusive printer of the Yosemite Special Edition Photograph negatives, an assignment he has enjoyed for nearly 50 years. As such, Alan knows Ansel’s approach and technique perhaps better than any other photographer today.
In 1979, Alan left Ansel and Carmel to open a commercial photography studio in San Francisco, where he enjoyed working on projects ranging from world-wide campaigns for the Bank of America to landscape murals for the National Park Service.
He relocated to Santa Fe in 1993 and enjoys pursuing his art, teaching, writing articles, and traveling the globe speaking about his years with Ansel and the impact that had on his own work.
Alan is also a consummate and dedicated photographic educator who gladly shares his vast knowledge of the art and craft of fine art photography, inspiring professionals and amateurs alike as they work to realize and refine their photographic voice.
His photographs hang in collections, galleries and museums around the world, including the George O’Keeffe Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Huntington Library, the Center for Creative Photography, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Princeton University Art Museum, Yale Museum of Art and other public and private collections.
Story Behind the Image
I made this image during Ansel Adams’ June 1975 Yosemite workshop when those wonderful sessions were 10 days long (down from the 1993 and earlier workshops that were two weeks long!).
In the interest of preserving the views at scenic spots, the Park Service in those days would clear away river debris and stream-side growth. As eco-desire to let “nature take its natural course” grew, such scenic maintenance was gradually set aside, and this spot at the up-stream end of Yosemite’s Happy Isles is now a calamity of fallen and washed-up trees and detritus. As I like to tell my workshop students, if you see it, photograph it! You might not be able to days, weeks or months later.
Cambo 4x5 Plus-X film pack
Print Information
Limited Edition Prints signed and numbered in an edition of 100. Each print is made personally by Alan Ross, printed either on Ilford Multigrade Classic fiber paper (SGP) and selenium toned or on Canson Platine paper (APP) using a Canon Pro-1000 printer and my personal printing profiles. Mounted and over-matted with 4-ply or 8-ply museum board using the most current industry standards for archival permanence.
Prices and availability subject to change without notice.
Ordering Information
Original photographs are hand-made, and not all sizes are kept in inventory.
Special orders from the photographer may take 4 to 6 weeks for delivery.
Please contact us at sales@anseladams.com if you have any questions about shipping and delivery.
