The photograph in question is “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico” by Ansel Adams.  I am a huge fan of Ansel Adams, and much of what I do today was inspired by his work, but I do not like this image at all.

With that said, it is a technical accomplishment.  Given the film of the day (this image is from Summer 1941, and Pearl Harbor was December of that year), capturing a cityscape AND a moon image, this is beyond amazing that it could be done.  I’m sure most of this is given Ansel’s zone system and mastery over the film and development process.  I read up on the story behind, and, yeah, this image was taken with a lot of experience guiding it, Ansel couldn’t locate his light meter fast enough to take this photo.

But I do not like the image.

I’ve read the story behind it, which cements my theory that it is a technical accomplishment grounded in extensive photographic experience.

But I do not like the image.

Why do I not like it?  For starters, Hernandez, NM means nothing to me.  I’m sure it exists, and those who like the image discuss how it feels timeless.  But it isn’t a place nor a world I have experienced, so I have no attachment to the place at all.  Nor do I have any attachment at all to New Mexico, one of the 18 states I have yet to visit.

The part of the image that might get my attention is the mountains, and in all honesty, I didn’t even see them until I started writing this post.

Then there is the moon, something I reguarly photograph without context, so I do understand what it takes to get a good moon image.  Yes, this is a technical achievement to get the moon to show up in the same image as the town and everything else.  This may be a personal preference, but I don’t really like small moons in images, it looks like a mistake.  I also don’t really like the moon being so close to center, nor the top half of the image being basically black.  These are, of course, my preferences.  But I will say without hesitation that an image like Moonrise Hernandez NM would be for me a quick X in Lightroom and would never be seen again.

Even my favorite bands have songs I don’t like.  Art is a very subjective topic, and in this case, it is not my favorite.

I’m certain that even if you really like my photography, there are images that I love and you don’t.  And the opposite is probably true, you can hate my images, but enjoy my thoughts on the craft.  I assure you, neither perspective hurts my feelings and I have artists I feel the same about, some are even my friends.

This was a bit of a hard post.  I really like Ansel Adams’ photos, and it was one of the inspirations for me to dive deeper into my photography.  But I have long disliked this image, and that is ok.  I can also understand that the image was a technical masterpiece, and respect that.

-b