Ansel Adams: A Playboy Interview?!

[@rpgroome]

The Playboy interview actually had many interview subjects that one wouldn’t expect from a girlie magazine. These include Jimmy Carter, Jimmy Hoffa, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and Walter Cronkite. Some people did actually read the articles.

[@nostalgiccameralife]

Ansel is actually pretty clear, and consistent on this in the interview: it's not that the pictorialists manipulated their images that bothered him, it's that they were trying to make photos that didn't look like photos that bothered him. So he's hardly hypocritical for working over his images in the darkroom when he makes that point.

[@AzrielKnight]

I guess it depends where you draw the line at photo manipulation.

[@Socrates...]

Please do more videos showcasing other photographers, would be a great series. I really enjoyed this video, thank you.

[@AzrielKnight]

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. :)

[@datafocus2859]

I LOVE that he called out playboy and nude photographs and the fakeness of the portrayal of “perfect” bodies.

[@AzrielKnight]

He seemed a little misinformed by it from what I read.

[@barriegrundy4004]

this is fantastic...a must watch....thank you for this

[@AzrielKnight]

Thanks Barrie :)

[@benjaminstanchfield4756]

Playboy was, back in the day, known for interviews of controversial and or interesting people in each issue. Many individuals of remark graced their pages.

[@lupindeweir]

As in most things Ansel Adams seemed to be a man of hard contrast but when closely viewed was all greyscale. The lighting is all important.

[@Otokichi786]

Yep, I read "Playboy" for the articles.;)

[@cameraprepper7938]

I bought that magazine in 1983 because I wanted the interview with Ansel Adams, I still got it and I will keep it.

[@AzrielKnight]

It's a piece of history now.

[@cameraprepper7938]

@@AzrielKnight Yes, I will guard well

[@user-vg4cg4uw9c]

Ansel was a pioneer artist of the highest degree who helped bring realization that photography was viably an art form all in itself. 😎

[@AzrielKnight]

He was also a gate keeper, mildly pompous, and historically overrated.

[@liveinaweorg]

Thoroughly enjoyed this, Azriel. Great big of digging on your part and I particularly enjoyed that you expressed your own views. I'm certain that Playboy could release downloadable issues that only contained the editorials/interviews/etc and they would be popular. There was some good journalism hidden in-between the smut and the alcohol I'm sure. Also, cannot believe I haven't come across the sign up for your newsletter till now.

[@AzrielKnight]

Thanks for the kind words i'm glad you liked it :)

[@footrotdog]

I remember when growing up that a common joke (I guess you'd call a meme these days), was that people would only read Playboy "for the editorials". Who knew? :) Great video!

[@AzrielKnight]

Thanks :)

[@poniatowski3547]

Great episode. I wonder if Helmet returned Ansels opinion.

[@RickJohnson]

Amazing and well-presented vignette!

[@AzrielKnight]

Thank you kind sir.

[@boetschge]

Very interesting interview, thanks for bringing this up! Adams certainly was a colourful personality :-)

[@AzrielKnight]

lol no kidding.

[@boetschge]

@@AzrielKnight Why you "lol" at me?

[@AzrielKnight]

He was def colourful. It was an interesting way to describe him.

[@boetschge]

@@AzrielKnight Makes Sense ... im not a natural english speaker, and i dont know that much about Adams. Thanks for your Reply, youre awesome and you do great Videos! I did like this one very much, because it told me Storys I didnt know :-)

[@jdebultra]

I enjoyed this very much. Interesting.

[@AzrielKnight]

Thank you :)

[@BackFocus11]

Wow...very interesting story. Didn't know about the turbulence between Reagan and Adams.

[@AzrielKnight]

Glad you liked it :)

[@randallstewart175]

I guess you had to be there. Adams' views were parallel to the Sierra Club, of which he was a trustee. The SC was engaged at holy war with the Reagan Administration for its duration.James Watt was characterized as the devil incarnate by environmentalists at the time, and as the facts of the Reagan Admin unfolded over time, that view turned out to be disgustingly accurate. Reagan as a person was so clueless for most of his administration, that it is probably unfair to condemn him as an individual, but as a figurehead for an administration which was as damaging to the country as any ever, he takes the hit for them all.

[@tommyvictorbuch6960]

"Ronald Reagan did to the US, what he could no longer do to his wife." - Christopher Hitchens -

[@mnickdell8104]

Another amazing video thanks heaps! Prophets do contradict themselves all the time and have radical ideas on things but we love and respect them anyhow and Ansel is no exception.... BTW the beard looks great!

[@bigtog8188]

I have the issue somewhere in storage. I just never "read" it. If I find it, I'll definitely read the interview but from the sound of your review it might be a frustrating read.

[@theblackandwhitefilmproject]

Never meet your idols. Great research. It's amazing that after all these years somebody let that copy go...

[@AzrielKnight]

Good advice :)

[@jw48335]

Really interesting stuff Azriel! Ansel was quite a character and had remarkable foresight. I think I've got a stack of old Playboys from the 80s in the basement - you want them channel donation? :)

[@AzrielKnight]

Thanks for the offer Jeremy....bit unless there are more photographer interviews i'll pass ;)

[@jw48335]

Well, it's been a while since I've reviewed them, but I do remember a distinct focus on portraiture. ;)

[@iainmc9859]

Adams always comes across in every video of him and book he's written as someone I'd largely agree with on most things .... but he'd still be one of the first I'd chuck out of the balloon .... right after Reagan. I guess we're all prone to that level of non-linear thinking that leaves people going 'Yeah, I sort of agree ..... but !'

[@AzrielKnight]

lol. I respect the guy from the standpoint of technical photography, but his views on other photographers and other techniques are anal retentive.

[@iainmc9859]

@@AzrielKnight I guess we can all suffer from a little mental constipation at times. Is it just me or is that Jimmy Carter portrait an intentional pastiche of the Mona Lisa ?

[@AzrielKnight]

Lol i don't see it.

[@iainmc9859]

@@AzrielKnight Three quarter portrait, fixed smile, crossed arms, distant hills in the left hand background. Horizontal divide a third of the way up behind the figure, s bend of light and dark next to left hand shoulder. Its only the trees behind Carter that are different. I don't want to start a new conspiracy theory but ..... put them on separate windows and flick back and forth.

[@rockycassiano4756]

Nice.... ; )

[@AzrielKnight]

Thanks Rocky

[@marcp.1752]

I love Ansel Adams famous pictures, since i am a kid. I've yet not known until today, that Ansel gave that interview into that men's magazine. But it feels weird somehow anyway, because the target audience is totally different. Well, at least Ansel was right about nudes...not many look too good, best into b/w, and many (almost all) are heavily photoshop'ed, beautified, -filtered nowadays - who really needs this? Think Instacrap, welcome to a world with fake filters...through the pink glasses. Anyway, the society for the most part is being superficial, nowadays. I miss the old(er) days...

[@AzrielKnight]

Thanks for the comment Marc :)

[@marcp.1752]

@@AzrielKnight Welcome :)

[@randallstewart175]

Well, of course much of Adams' commentary, whether for interview or in his books and articles, seems to be taking of political positions and arguing for one side or another. In his later life, having discovered the oddity that once you are famous, people seem to think you know much about everything. he intentionally seized his opportunities to push his various agendas. I'd love to read the Playboy interview, but I have no idea how one might access that today. There is a Dick Cavett Show interview on YT which is IMO quite interesting. It includes a moderately famous exchange where Cavett comments on his wonderful photographs and asks him how many shots he has to take of a subject to get that perfect image. Adams rears back like someone slapped him and replies, ONE! Only really old farts like me would remember them, but Adams had a series of TV shows on PBS on B&W photo techniques, maybe 8-10 episodes of half hour each. As a learning tool, they are fantastic. I investigated their status some years ago. They were owned by a local TV station which produced them, which is why they were never syndicated. They were donated to Adams' trust depository at the U of Arizona. They have everything cataloged on line, and to my surprise, I had little trouble tracking it all down. I made initial arrangements with the administrators to get copies fairly cheap, but all they could do was make VHS copies of the programs, and my VHS machine died about that time, so I stopped the process. I've no idea if they would care if someone put a copy of the shows on line. A project for someone?

[@AzrielKnight]

I would like to track down that Dick Cavett Show as well as the PBS series. I have two VCR's in working condition.

[@randallstewart175]

@@AzrielKnight Re the PBS series, suggest starting on-line looking at the Ansel Adams Trust, where all of his materials, prints and negative were deposited upon his death with Univ of Arizona - Tempe, if I recall correctly. Although I had the advantage of having searched their archives and obtained their catalog numbers of the items I wanted, It was easy to just call and talk to a librarian. My recollection is that they wanted about $50 a tape (VHS) to get someone to copy the shows, which are on VHS, over to a new VHS tape. I do not recall whether that was per show or per tape, since you could fit several shows on one tape. I no longer have the reference details unfortunately. They were not making a big deal over my inquiry. As for the Cavett Show item, I just went back to look at it, and I couldn't find it. So, I may have seen it somewhere else???

[@AzrielKnight]

Would love to pick your brain on this a bit more. Can you email me? ([e-mail])

[@randallstewart175]

@@AzrielKnight Okay. Just sent you an email to link up. Oh, I may have sent it to the wrong email address. Will do again.

[@Notso_Wild_Bill]

Didn't want to be the 70th like, but somebody had to do the deed. Reagan cut solar tax credits so yeah, he suckered. Stay safe.Peace

[@AzrielKnight]

Thanks William :)

[@dexon555]

He sounds like an eccentric old man. It’s hilarious how wrong his opinions were. 😂

[@sonicmistress]

Most real creatives are borderline mad and most non creatives will never understand why they do what they do or say, as you don't, his opinions were his own and right for him so only wrong in the minds if those who don't get it.....YT is poison and spreads opinions as fact and that is why it's no better than a tabloid newspaper, full of shite.