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The Da Vinci principle... |
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Tuesday, 15 February 2005 |
If you don't know Dan Brown's novel "The Da Vinci Code" then you've been probably living in a world where there is no TV, no magazines and no Internet (which you don't, since you're reading this on your screen...).
You might have not read it, but you know the general gist of it and you might know that there is a movie on the way with Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou (the girl of "Le Fabuleux Destin D'Amelie Poulain"), you might also know that there are bunches of tourists running around in Paris, trying to see for themselves the stuff Dan Brown describes in his book.
You might also know that Dan Brown actually wrote a book before the Da Vinci Code, called "Angels and demons", which features the same main character and which takes place before the Da Vinci Code. However, you probably learned this once you'd read the Da Vinci Code, in which cases there are some references in the latter book which you didn't get, because they were talking about the first one...
By now you're probably thinking that I've given up photography altogether and became a librarian, but here is the photographic bit:
You Probably know this image if you know a thing or two about photography, or ever taken photography classes. It was made by Ansel Adams in 1937 in Yosemite Park, and It's an image that is often used as an example for print making, dodging, burning, that kind of thing.
You probably know this image as an original and powerful masterpiece, a new product of Adams' time, made possible by his amazing creative genius. And it is, no doubt about it.
But then you might not be aware of the work of Carleton Watkins, who went around Yosemite National Park with a bunch of mules to transport his mammoth wet plate equipment, and who made this image in 1865 :
They are not the same, I agree, but the explore the same landscape, and they come from the same general vision of showing the beauty of Yosemite National Park, which those two men knew inside and out.
Maybe you didn't know the reference of Adams to Watkins work, it's probably not relevant to the enjoyement of Adams photograph, but the fact that Adams' image has so much more impact is in part because of the technological progress is the 72 years separating the two images, but it is also a tribute to the talent of Ansel Adams for rendering a scene in dramatic ways.
You might not have read Angels and Demons before you tackle the Da Vinci Code, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy the second book of the series, it's good, no matter what came before it... |
