Plus some very classy screensaver ideas

By Charles W. Moore cwmoore@applelinks.com

I have been a huge fan of the great 20th Century landscape photographer, Ansel Adams, fan for many years. His stunning black and white pictures, mostly taken with a huge view camera that used 8" x 10" film for producing negatives have a luminous quality and range of contrast and texture that transcends anything that is possible with color film.

Looking across lake toward mountains, "Evening, McDonald Lake, Glacier National Park," Montana.

Delightfully, there is massive collection of Adams photos that the photographer produced for the United States Department of the Interior from 1933-1942. They represent a royalty-free resource of Adams' early work that can be used by web designers, desktop publishers and graphic artists. And as very classy Desktop pictures.

Per federal documentation, the use and duplication of these Ansel Adams images is unrestricted. The photographic prints in this series are in the public domain. In correspondence dated August 18, 1942, from Adams to E. K. Burlew, First Assistant Secretary, Department of the Interior, Adams states that the photographs are the property of the U.S. Government.

"The Tetons - Snake River" By Ansel Adams, Wyoming, 1942
National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the National Park Service

There are gif and jpeg archives of these photos compiled on several Websites from which they can be downloaded (see links below). One of the most comprehensive Adams sites has been compiled by author, graphic artist, and commercial web designer Eve Paludan, containing more than two hundred digitized photo images. The Browse pages on Paludan's site have low-resolution catalog images that link to good quality thumbnail images with further links to full size images.
http://www.royaltyfreeart.com/ansel/ansel/home.html

According to Eve Paludan:
"In 1941, the National Park Service commissioned Ansel Adams to take photographs for a planned mural that was to be displayed in the Department of the Interior Building in Washington, DC. The idea was to have a thematic mural of nature preservation in National Parks. Ansel Adams was paid about US $22 a day and took photos in Arizona, California, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. He processed the B & W photos, using gelatin developing out paper. He used zone exposure technology that he and Edward Weston developed in 1932 to get maximum tonal range from black-and-white film. Sadly, World War II interrupted the project, so the mural was never completed.

Full side view of adobe house with water in foreground, "Acoma Pueblo [National Historic Landmark, New Mexico]."

"Ansel Adams was born in San Francisco in 1902 and died in 1984. A self-taught photographer and accomplished pianist with only a grammar school education, he began taking photos at age 14, and spent summers working and photographing in Yosemite. He also was a longtime member, contributor, and director of the Sierra Club.

"He received the Sierra Club's John Muir Award in 1963, the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Jimmy Carter, and many other awards, fellowships, and honorary doctorate degrees throughout his lifetime. Posthumously, an Ansel Adams Wilderness Area of more than 100,000 acres between Yosemite National Park and the John Muir Wilderness Area was created."

"In Glacier National Park" By Ansel Adams, Montana, 1941
National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the National Park Service

The prints that Ansel Adams sold to the Interior Department are now in the National Archives. Both 8" x 10" and 4" x 5" copy negatives have been made of from some of the more popular Adams prints (before they become too damaged by use) by the National Archives. Prints or digital scans can be ordered from the prints or copy negatives, using one of the National Archives' six authorized vendors. For information on obtaining prints or scans of Ansel Adams images in the National Archive, contact: Ansel_Adams_Archive@tssphoto.com .

More information and downloadable Adams images from the DOI collection can be found at:
http://www.royaltyfreeart.com/ansel/ansel/home.html
http://www.zpub.com/sf/history/adams.html
http://www.griztrax.net/oldtimes/anseladams1.html

To use these images as Desktop Pictures in OS X, just download a full size image from Ms. Paludan's Website or one of the others linked above, drag the image file into the Pictures Folder in your Home Folder, open the Desktop Preferences panel, select "Pictures Folder" form the pull-down menu, and then click on the thumbnail of the image you imported in from the images that are arrayed across the bottom of the panel.

In OS 8.5 through 0S 9.2.1, it's a good idea to drag the image file(s) into the Photos folder in the Desktop Pictures folder in the Appearance folder in the System folder, although this is not absolutely necessary. You can alternatively select desktop pictures from anywhere on your hard drive using the open dialog in the Desktop pane of the Appearance Control Panel. Open the Appearance Control Panel from the submenu in the Apple Menu, and click on the Desktop tab. A dialog will appear that allows you to choose and manipulate your Desktop appearance.

First, you need to remove the picture that already appears on your Desktop, if any, by clicking the Remove Picture button. This does not destroy or erase the photo from your hard drive; just deselects it as your Desktop picture. Also, whatever Desktop Pattern is selected in the scrolling Patterns menu will remain underlying the desktop picture, which, when activated, covers the Desktop Pattern.

To select a new Desktop picture, click the Place Picture button (formerly the Remove Picture button). An open file dialog will appear, allowing you to navigate to find graphics files anywhere on your hard drive.

You can preview the photos stored in the Photos folder or wherever by clicking the Show Preview button, which will make the selected photo appear in the Preview window of the open file dialog box. You can also drag any compatible graphics file directly into the preview window to display it there.

When you find the picture you want in the open file dialog, click Choose, and it will appear in the mini Desktop window of the Desktop dialog box, allowing you to see how well it fits the Desktop. Click Set Desktop, and the picture will be applied to the Desktop. For Mac OS 8 and 8.1, there is no Appearance Control Panel, but you can set and manipulate Desktop pictures in much the same way as described above using the eponymously named Desktop Pictures Control Panel.

If you would prefer to use Adams photographs as screensaver images, the US $20 Ansel Adams Screen Saver 6.0 features photos from the DOI collection. System requirements: Mac OS X 10.0 or higher. Ansel Adams Screen Saver is US $19.95 shareware. For more information, visit: http://cassdesign.com/anseladamsmac.html

Note that if you're running OS X you can compile your own screensaver slideshow by downloading the images yourself, putting them in the Pictures folder in your Home folder, checking the Change Picture checkbox in the Desktop Preferences pane, and specifying the desired change interval from the pull-down menu. http://www.applelinks.com/mooresviews/adams.shtml   
About Charles W. Moore.