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Ava Martinez

ART 110

Prof. Edwards

10-31-18

The Graduation Dress by Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist best known for his

landscape photography. In Adam’s early life, he taught himself how to play piano and read

music. Adams wanted to be a career pianist, this changed to photography, nurtured by Adams

love of California and Yosemite. His landscapes of the Golden State are what brought Adams to

fame. In fact, Adams portraits were seldom the reason of any fame. This brings us to the

photograph being analyzed in this essay, “The Graduation Dress”.

Adam’s known media is photography. He preferred to use a medium to large format

cameras. In addition to this, Adams liked to control the depth of the field he was working with.

He did this by, “…adjusting the film plane and the lens, with the relationships of objects in the

frame, with tilt and rise and fall movements. Doing these things, he was able to alter the

perspective to what he desired, controlling rise movements or increasing depth of field by

making the lens standard tilt down” (Bannon) Adams developed all of his own film, and didn’t

want to waste it. Every photo was planned and looked at from every angle before actually being

taken. Adams was also the inventor of the “Zone System”. This controlled and related exposure

to development, controlling the value of a photograph. Overall, Adams was very innovative in

his field.

In the photo “Graduation Dress”, a young girl in a white dress is photographed next to a

large tree. When looking more clearly at the picture, there are many ways to see the clear
message. The girl stands there, awkwardly next to the tree. She hold onto her arm as if she is

unsettled in some way. While she may be graduating, a seemingly joyous time, she seems

expressionless, only giving the camera a slight smirk. She leans into the tree as if she’s posing

with a friend, giving a comforting vibe to a photo that could have displayed the awkwardness of

a young woman if framed differently. This is very different from Adams landscape works.

Considering his seldom use of portraiture, the general feeling of this picture is different from

most. Some may see this as lesser than, but an article from the San Francisco Chronical sums it

up perfectly, “some of the photographs seem ordinary indeed. But the ordinary work of a genius

is still something to behold, and the technical excellence of Adams' work is startling” (Nolte).

While the picture seems average at face value, the technique and execution shows the beauty of

the work. This is also displayed in Adams careful execution of elements and principals of design.

Overall, this piece shows the diversity and range Adams had, but seldom showed to the world.

As discussed before, the value of a photograph was important to Adams. This is

displayed in his 1948 photograph, “Graduation Dress”. Value is known as a degree from light to

dark. In this photo, the dress itself has a starchy bright whiteness, this is a major contrast to the

darker background, and the contrasting values in the tree next to it. According to the LA Times,

“A tree serves as a foil in the portrait seen here, too. Its craggy bark sets off the pure, starchy

whiteness of the dress and the innocence of youth for which it stands” (Westerbeck). Adams has

always been successful in this, and his success is shown in this work of art. The other element of

design shown in this photograph is texture. There are many different textures here that the value

of the photograph aided in exposing. For one, the bark of the tree is crackly and rough. This

counters the soft flow of ruffles shown on the graduation dress. These both contrast the

background of the photo, the prickly pine needles. Because Adams took so much time when
choosing where his photos would be taken, he is ultimately very successful in displaying the

various textures of Yosemite.

While there are multiple principals of design shown in this piece, one of the strongest is

the balance. In the photograph, is the young girl in her dress and a big tree, shown side by side.

They share the middle of the photograph. The girl stands there, looking timid and awkward,

while the tree stands tall and proud next to her, looking like a professional model. Balance is also

shown as the girl leans slightly towards the tree, the tree leans in slightly towards her. The

second principal shown, is scale. The girl in the photo seems tall. The dress elongates her figure

creating a clean line down her legs. If this had been a picture of her with nothing else in the

picture, she might seem extremely tall for a young woman. This is offset by the ginormous tree

rooted next to her. The tree extends far out of the picture. This, in comparison, makes the girl

seem much smaller, daintier, and especially overpowered. Adams is extremely successful in

showing both principles. Even more than just displaying them, he knows how to use both

principals to his advantage. All in all, creating a well-made, understated piece of work.

While portraiture may not have been Adams usual style of photography, his execution of

the work shows his true skill and raw talent. His successful use of elements and principles of

design show his true understanding of the medium. Furthermore, His willingness to display what

some might find awkward is commendable. Overall, Adams knows his photography, and this

single photograph shows it.


Works Cited

Brannon, Susan. “Ansel Adams: How Did He Do It?” Through the Lens, 19 Aug. 2011,

photojournalistjournal.blogspot.com/2011/08/ansel-adams-how-did-he-do-it.html.

Nolte, Carl. “Out of His Element / Ansel Adams Not Known for Pictures of People.” SFGate,

San Francisco Chronicle, 31 Jan. 2012, www.sfgate.com/news/article/Out-of-his-element-

Ansel-Adams-not-known-for-2872391.php.

Turnage, William. “Ansel Adams, Photographer - A Biography.” Ansel Adams Gallery, Ansel

Adams Gallery, 27 July 2016, anseladams.com/ansel-adams-bio/.

Westerbeck, Colin. “Graduation Dress (1948).” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 12 Nov.

2006, articles.latimes.com/2006/nov/12/magazine/tm-photosynthesis46.

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