Why Ansel Adams’s Three Books Remain the Bible of Photography (Even in the Digital Age)
If you think Ansel Adams’s *The Camera*, *The Negative*, and *The Print* are merely nostalgic relics of the analog era, you are missing out on the most important lesson in modern photography.
These are not simply three technical manuals for film; they represent a true school of visual thought. For anyone wishing to pursue fine art photography—especially in black and white—these volumes shouldn't just be read; they must be studied.
The Heart of the Method: The Zone System
At the core of Adams’s teaching lies a concept that remains crucial and unsurpassed, even with today’s mirrorless and DSLR sensors: the Zone System.
Technically, the Zone System is a scientific method for correlating scene reflectance, exposure, negative density (or RAW values), and the tonality of the final print. Adams divided the luminance scale (from the deepest discernible shadow to the brightest highlight) into 11 discrete zones, identified by Roman numerals from 0 to X:
- Zone 0: Pure black, devoid of detail.
- Zone V (five): Middle gray at 18% reflectance (the nominal value used to calibrate spot meters).
- Zone X: Pure paper white or pixel at clipping point, devoid of detail.
The Usable Zones (I–IX): These represent the discernible dynamic range, with Zones II–VIII containing all the essential textures and tonal details.
Why is it still fundamental in the digital age?
Camera light meters (even on the most modern models) tend to render any metered point as Zone V (middle gray). Applying the Zone System means previsualizing the result: measuring a key shadow area, deciding to "place" it in Zone III to preserve its texture, and calculating the necessary over- or under-exposure relative to a spot meter reading.
In the digital realm, this concept translates directly into ETTR (Expose To The Right) and the informed management of the histogram, allowing you to master the sensor's dynamic range and avoid highlight clipping or shadow detail loss.
A fundamental trilogy for the conscious photographer:
1. The Camera: Not a manual on buttons, but a lesson on managing perspective, the plane of focus (Scheimpflug principle), and controlling light before the shot.
2. The Negative: The bible of previsualization and exposure. Today, the "negative" is your RAW file; understanding its exposure latitude radically changes the way you photograph.
3. The Print: The final chapter of the Fine Art vision. The dodging and burning techniques born in the darkroom are the exact conceptual equivalent of the layer masks and adjustment brushes used in Lightroom today.
If you want to make the leap from "impulse shooters" to conscious photographers, treat yourself to this trilogy. You will look at your digital sensor with entirely new eyes!
Arvo Pärt did not need volume to change the world of music. He needed silence.
Now he has received Germany's Goethe Medal, honouring a body of work that has crossed borders, languages and generations.
Photo by Birgit Püve.
Presenting the medal in Weimar, Goethe-Institut president Gesche Joost said Part's tintinnabuli music had touched and connected people around the world, creating "a space for humanity".
His son, Michael Pärt, accepted the honour on his behalf and offered a sentence that could stand beside his father's entire oeuvre:
"First comes the music and then - perhaps - understanding."
Which Part work would you play to mark this moment?
Happy 91st birthday, Maestro 🥂
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One of my most beloved records, ever!
Maria’s wonderful voice is supported by the Gotha of studio musicians and friends.
I owned an average Made in Germany copy, no gatefold cover, for fifty years… but today - at a charity shop - found a minty U.S. pressing of the disc, foldable cover and all, for the cost of a coffee.
A (titillating) aside: the photo of Maria in that elegant, sheer black blouse—with that chaste bosom barely glimpsed—awakened a pleasant shiver and a touch of dizziness in my younger self.
Priceless memories and… so happy I found this copy!
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A Neumann U67 (top) and Neumann U89 (bottom). For very dynamic singers I commonly set up two microphones.
The U67 is set optimally for tone with the pad off, the preamp gain set close to saturation, and a little limiting is added as well. Meanwhile, the U89 has the pad on, very conservative preamp gain and no limiter. I do adjust the preamp gain dynamically also for the U67 but the U89 in this case is a failsafe.
The U89, despite its smaller size, is also considerably fuller and rounder sounding than the U67, so it works well if the vocalist is singing high, loud or shrill.
Thsnks to Bill Simpskin.
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The starting point (and indeed the destination) of this book is that perfect state of primordial wonder at the world—a state each of us knew in early childhood, that "glorious yet betrayed premise of existence." To return to it is to discover an immense psychic treasure, to gain access to "knowledge beyond duality," to a "philosophy pushed beyond words." All this is implicit in religious cults across the globe—in the West, for instance, in the devotion to the Infant Jesus.
There are many paths to rediscovering that state of wonder; indeed, one might say that no path, however eccentric, is ruled out from the start. And Zolla is a master of metaphysical wandering. Where will he lead us this time? To a meditation on light; to nature as evoked by Goethe; to themes of mountain ascension, migration, the "fraudulent birth of modern nations," and virtual reality. And all the while, interwoven with these images and stories, we will encounter figures such as Burmese shamans and Byzantine holy fools, as well as the verses of Yeats or the music of *The Magic Flute* and *Parsifal*.
Like his earlier *Uscite dal mondo* (Exits from the World), this book constantly unfolds a fan before us: no single segment allows us to predict the next, yet each one points back to all the others.
Childhood Wonder
ELÉMIRE ZOLLA
A propitiatory listen… and it worked, as it’s raining, at last!
The venerable Studer A730 spinning.
… while reading: priceless and without sweating.
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My mother would look at me and say:
"You have sturdy hips. You’ll be good soil."
Good soil, indeed. Good soil to be made fertile.
But I had a spirit, too—and perhaps my mother didn't notice that.
I was delicate and shy, and that full-figured body of mine bothered me. I would withdraw, wondering if my poetry was the same as my body, and my body the same as my poetry.
I wanted to be diaphanous, gentle, and pale. Perhaps that is where the trap began.
I am a being frustrated by madness.
The madness had set in just like that, one day, when my mother—upon giving birth to my brother—told me:
"You can't study anymore: the boy has been born."
In those days, the male child was sacred. The male child had to
absorb all the moral and physical reserves of the family and the community.
I had been studying—my first year of medical school. I wanted a degree.
For me, a degree would have meant a desk, a respectable job, and a winning smile for clients.
I wanted to be a doctor. When he told me that a sound
is born tragically from pain, he was right.
An obsession was born in me. And that obsession turned into poetry.
Beautiful, hendecasyllabic poetry—because I had also been forbidden to play music.
The mental numbness caused by the absence of music is incredible.
And beyond the missed scalpel, the missed career in medicine, I also missed my beloved piano. So, I resigned myself to fate.
I used to go to work on Via Verdi, passing right by the Garzanti publishing house.
As a teenager, I would sigh and think: "A book of mine, displayed in there—who knows when that might happen!" I had to wait thirty-five years—and I mean thirty-five.
Back then, I used to take refuge on Via del Torchio. Perhaps I became a poet because I didn't care all that much about poetry; Even though I devoured book after book, even though song was within me (but it was the song of life, and they did not understand that). Being a woman of letters did not mean, for me, not being a woman, and I would have liked to be a good mother, too.
Alda Merini, *Delirio amoroso*, 1989
… or better: the Kid plays the Abbott’s music.
The level of musicianship is so high, showing an intimate, deep love, respect and knowledge of John Renbourn’s unlimited and untamed art, always so various: every aspect of JR’s music are covered with passion and philology, confirming the immortality of music.
The 2 disks-set is a joy to listen to, indeed.
A labor of love and a must-have for any acoustic guitar lover and scholar.
Bravo, Clive!
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“Everyone stands alone on the heart of the earth pierced by a ray of sunshine: and suddenly it's evening.”
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… and worth it.
All this mess “only” to improve cables layout, to gain a shelf, to avoid having to kneeing to change a CD… the installation of my own designed H-shaped risers to my gears cabinets proved to be quite challenging and demanding for my back.
… but the result is what I wanted.
We've got a 1923 Gibson F-5 Lloyd Loar Master Model Mandolin!
https://www.elderly.com/products/gibson-f-5-90u-224384?variant=46073041682623
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In Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1923, Checker Cabs first arrived on the city's streets, and Lloyd Loar completed this F-5 Master Model mandolin. Signed July 9th, this model was made during Loar's last two years at Gibson. This historic mandolin features a carved spruce top with figured maple sides, back, and neck, beautifully paired with an ebony fingerboard and adjustable bridge. It comes equipped with four-on-a-plate tuners with pearl buttons, original "The Gibson" stamped tailpiece, and a raised pickguard. Pearl dots adorn the fingerboard, perfectly complementing the multi-ply purfling and binding. The methods refined by Loar during this era persist to this day, establishing the industry standards for the F-model mandolin. Early, influential features on this piece include a tuned soundboard, parallel tone-bar bracing, dual F-holes, and an adjustable truss rod, all finished in a stunning sunburst. A Calton hardshell case and Small Dog case cover are included. Gibson and those same Checker Cabs shuttered their Kalamazoo factories in 1982, 59 years after this mandolin was made. Now, 103 years later, this legendary F-5 has returned home to Michigan, available on consignment for your enjoyment at Elderly Instruments.
Apparently, it is sold out, already!
A closer-view at the new ivory heel-cap on my ‘07 Martin OM-42 💫
An American aßhøle on a Facebook Martin’s group doubted this to be pre-ban/CITES certified legal ivory (something my luthier and myself are 110 % sure, but - most of all - why should I lie on this?!?) and when I disproved, he reminded to me it’s an illegal material: while well-aware of rules on the matter and apologizing to the elephant donor, I reminded him Steinway and Bösendörfer specifically asked to their ivory wholesalers for a grain-free material for their premium keyboards and CITES-certified ivory is tolerated in luthiery.
As I was strongly tempted to open a nasty confrontation, before writing it’s also illegal bombing Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq, for example… but I resisted the delicious temptation, remaining verbally non-violent 🤣😇🤣 and got my temper, just canceling the post on FB.
A lesson: never offer pearls to swine… they won't appreciate them!
😉🤭🤔
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A beauty!
Look at this spruce top “silk” and these Frank Lloyd Wright inspired fingerboard 🥇
Thanks to Steve Hoffman for the following 🙏🖖🥇💫🙏
“I was asked again about what projects I used the Teletronix LA-2a compressor on in disk or digital mastering. No problem answering one more time.
My units are ganged for stereo or mono reproduction via the handy toggle switch in the center of the two units.
Never far from my work space, always dependable, always beautiful sounding, more subtle than any Fairchild, responsive no matter how hard it's pushed.
I've used it on countless projects:
Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, Doors, Eagles, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Peggy Lee, Jethro Tull, Chuck Berry, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Van Morrison, White Stripes, Tom Petty, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ella Fitzgerald, YES, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Steely Dan, Steppenwolf, Bad Company, Jim Croce, Elvis Presley, Billie Holiday, Judy Garland, Dave Mason, Paul Simon, America, The Band, Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Cars, ZZ Top, James Taylor, Art Pepper, Steve Miller Band, Queen, Rod Stewart, Duke Ellington, John Lee Hooker, Al Jolson, Roy Orbison, Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis, Jr., The Who, Lightnin' Hopkins, Bill Haley & his Comets, Miles Davis, Mamas and Papas, Blue Öyster Cult, The Byrds, Eric Clapton, Bill Evans Trio, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Phil Collins, Alice Cooper, Deep Purple, Jeff Beck, Doobie Bros., Faces, Grand Funk, Heart, Billy Joel, Linda Ronstadt, Ten Years After, Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Pat Benetar, Elton John, Leon Russell, Metallica and more.
You name it, if needed, I've run it through the Teletronix LA-2A. My (no longer) secret weapon since 1982. Here's a tip, turn the peak reduction all the way off and use it as a preamp, like Ken Perry used to do at Capitol. Adds that great sound without compression. A true genius invention. Thanks, JIM LAWRENCE and BILL PUTNAM!”
Amazing, indeed: technology meets music at its best.
SHARE THE NEWS!
NEW RELEASE!!!
https://sublime-frequencies.bandcamp.com/music
MEKONG SHELLAC: Cambodian Artifacts from the 78-rpm era
SF135
Mekong Shellac is an extremely rare collection of classical and popular styles of Khmer music from the 1930s to the 1950s. Restored from the few original remaining copies, this compilation reveals a remarkable world of early 20th-century Cambodian folk music previously lost in time through war, cultural shifts, and modernization. These recordings were selected for their distinctive musical qualities, the physical condition of the 78 rpm records from which they were sourced, and the circumstances of their survival.
The selections span a range of Khmer musical forms, including Chapey, Romvong, Lakon Basak, Pleng Khmer, Ayai, and Ayai Reung, as well as classical and court-derived traditions such as Pinpeat and Mahori, alongside popular and regional styles including Lamleav and Pleng Ka. It's a miracle these discs have survived at all throughout the past century. Restoration of these 78-rpm artifacts was a challenge, but considering that, of most songs appearing on the album, less than 5 copies are known to exist worldwide today - with only two known copies of three tracks presented here, the songs survive magnificently. Produced by Adam Fargason with the critical assistance of Sam Touch and Mai Viết Cường, this limited-edition vinyl pressing comes with a deluxe 16-page booklet insert including highly detailed liner notes, essays and historical information about the recordings, and a selection of vintage photographs.
I always applaud at Umberto Eco’s wisdom and I feel to be appropriate for records collections, as well.
“It's foolish to think you have to read all the books you buy, just as it's foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they can possibly read.
It would be like saying you have to use all the cutlery, glasses, screwdrivers, or drill bits you've bought before buying new ones.
There are things in life that you always need to have in abundance, even if you only use a small part of them.
If, for example, we think of books as medicine, we understand that it's better to have many at home rather than just a few: when you want to feel better, you go to the "medicine cabinet" and choose a book. Not just any book, but the right book for that moment.
That's why you always need to have a large selection!
Those who buy only one book, read only that one, and then get rid of it, simply apply a consumerist mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a commodity.
Those who love books know that books are anything but a commodity.”
Umberto Eco
This ECM disk from 2011 was suggested by Stefano Amerio - the sound engineer extraordinaire who recorded this and hundreds more ECMs’ - when I interviewed him, years ago.
At my (legit but a bit childish 🤭) question about “the best” ECM’s recording he made, ever, Stefano thought about it for a moment and answered without hesitation.
This disk is a masterpiece of sweetness and beauty… the recording is - truly is - F A N T A S T I C in every parameter: timbre, spatial and ambience informations and micro-dynamics.
I’m floating with a silly smile on my face.
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These three double disks, actually six SACDs’, box-sets made in Austria by Col Legno label are a compendium of concrete and avantagarde electronic music truly worth having and listening to.
Recording is first rate, sometimes amazing and a sonic rollercoaster for any audio system!
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