Ansel Adams negatives turns $ 45 to $ 200 million

Ansel Adams would be happy if he were still alive to see how investments have paid off. Rick Norsigian bought a box of glad negatives at a garage sale for a song. After 10 years of trying, he finally certain experts the negatives were taken by legendary photographer Ansel Adams. Now he’s poised to reap a crazy return on his $ 45 investment. Now these photos are appraised for about $ 200 million. Source of article – A $ 45 investment in Ansel Adams negatives returns $ 200 million by Personal Money Store.

Photos from Ansel Adams in a garage sale

Black and White photos of the American West were what Ansel Adams, who died in 1984, was known for. Images by Ansel Adams of Yosemite National Park in California are among the most famous. Norsigian told CNN that he bought two boxes of glass negatives for $ 45 although the sellers wanted $ 70 for them. Robert Moeller who’s an art expert concluded that “with a high degree of probability, that the images under consideration were produced by Ansel Adams,” reports CNN.

’Missing link’ in Ansel Adams life is what these pictures are

Within the photographer’s career, these photos appear to be a “missing link” reports CNN who was told by David W. Streets, art dealer. July 27, these photos were shown at the Beverly Hills gallery. $ 200 million is the lowest amount Norsigian will get for a return on his investment. 5,000 plates were destroyed in a 1937 darkroom fire although these 65 negatives seem to have made it.

Ansel Adams began a Zone System

The photos had to be taken between 1919 and also the 1930s considering the silver tarnishing on the Ansel Adams photos, and that was way before the Yosemite pictures become famous in the 1940s. A Wikipedia page on Adams reports that he co-developed a way to determine proper exposure and adjust the contrast of the final print, and he called it the Zone System. The resulting clarity and depth of Ansel Adams’ Zone System defined the classic Ansel Adams images. Special cameras were used by Adams to create very sharp pictures.

Discovering Ansel Adams negatives

The Ansel Adams garage sale photographs nevertheless have their doubters, despite the endorsement of art experts. The blog, Croanca, points out that the individuals in the CNN article is probably not at all qualified to say that these are really Ansel Adams photographs. Admirers of Ansel Adams worry about adequate reproduction of the plates. Someone at visualjournalism.info wonders if the Ansel Adams photographs could be produced good enough.

Further reading

CNN
cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/07/27/ansel.adams.discovery/?hpt=Sbin
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansel_Adams