Ansel Adams, known as the “Father of American Photography”, became nationally recognized in the 1940’s for his famous Yosemite landscapes and San Francisco landmarks. He spent most of his life preserving the western wilderness in photo. Before the dawn of digital and HDR photography, Adams would spend hours in the darkroom working on each image, bringing out every possible detail. He had a “recipe” of dodging and burning areas of each photo to create an HDR effect, exposing the true beauty of the American West.
10 years ago, Los Angeles resident Rick Norsigian was sorting through piles of items for sale at a local yard sale and came across two small boxes containing a total of 65 glass plate negatives depicting the California Wilderness, which he purchased for $45. Unknown to him at the time, these were actually original Ansel Adams negatives thought to have been destroyed in a 1937 darkroom fire. Norsigian brought his find to an Arts appraiser and much to his surprise, the glass negatives he found were worth $200 Million! These 65 originals appear to be photographs taken by Adams between the early 1920’s through the early 1930’s. They depict the evolution of his photographic style and a history of Adams thought to have been lost forever. This truly was an amazing find by Norsigian, and after $45 and years of research, there is no question that these are in fact Adams originals.
Keep your eye open the next time you are browsing for deals at your next yard sale. You may be surprised at what you may find!
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That was an amazing fine… it will be more amazing to see the images anyone heard when that will be?
CNN has actually posted a few of the images up on their site. View them here!
Be even more amazing to show the people who sold the negatives.