The fine photographs of Alan Ross can be experienced as sophisticated black-and-white still lifes or grand landscapes. His work is reminiscent of his teacher, Ansel Adams, yet has a distinct personal style.
After his 1971 graduation from the University of California, Berkeley, with a BA in Design/Photography, Alan Ross began his illustrious career in photography serving as assistant in the M. Halberstadt studio in San Francisco. As an apprentice there he practiced black-and-white and color illustration photography, general studio, and darkroom techniques. After three years of studio work, he started freelancing as a commercial photographer until joining Ansel Adams in Carmel as his photographic assistant from 1974-79.
Since 1975 he has printed the Ansel Adams Special Edition Photographs of Yosemite, a program that Ansel started in the 1950s. Ross prints these thirty images of Yosemite, all 8"x 10" in the manner in which Adams would have printed them.
Ross has taught numerous workshops for the Ansel Adams Gallery, University of California Extension, RIT, The Friends of Photography, Ilford Photographic, and photo tours to China (1981,1983). His work is widely exhibited and collected.After many years of operating his own commercial studio in San Francisco, Ross moved with his wife and daughter to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
When I first went to work as Ansel's assistant, one of the things that struck me the most was the realization, while going through boxes and boxes of his work, that he had made an awful lot of very ordinary photographs! I was somewhat stunned to learn that he had no illusions and no expectations that every film he exposed would wind up being another one of what he fondly called his 'Mona Lisa's. As an awe-struck young photographer in the presence of The Master, this revelation was an incredible relief to me; it came as a release from the burden of expecting myself to produce only perfection. It was better to experiment and try things that might work, and openly and simply respond to feelings than to over intellectualize. In fact I soon came to learn that one of Ansel's favorite phrases was "The Perfect is the enemy of the Good!"
Two of the first things to strike just about anyone upon meeting Ansel Adams for the first time were a sense of his energy and good humor.
As a child today, Ansel likely would be diagnosed with some sort of "hyperactive disorder" and be given medication for it. Fortunately, at the turn-of-the-century such modern practices weren't the rule and Ansel was free to probably make everyone around him nuts. His mental acuity, curiosity about how the cosmos worked and his sheer energy got him washed out of elementary school at an early age. Instead of school, his father sent him off to "study" at the great Panama-Pacific Exposition being held in San Francisco at the time. Instead of the "Three 'R's" he studied world art, science and culture.
This essence of his roots, combined with an avid fondness for groaner jokes, puns, innocent antics, hard work and his eternal belief that there was always something he could do to make the world a better place made every day working for and with him a day of cheer and value.
I think the most valuable "lessons learned" from the years working with Ansel were lessons in simplicity, practicality and humility. There was nothing about Ansel's equipment — camera or darkroom — that was either extravagant or exotic. His camera gear was old and beat up, his darkroom cabinetry was mostly painted plywood. He didn't own an enlarging timer. He had no interest in whether he had "the best" of anything; if it served his needs, that sufficed. He drove a Ford and loved it. He had no illusions that every one of his exposures would be a masterpiece; it was enough that he had responded to something seen and tried to make it work. His philosophy regarding many things in life could be summed up in a favorite phrase of his: "The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good." He never regarded himself as anything more than a hard-working human with a purpose. He was dedicated to his convictions regarding photography, the environment and politics, and that dedication kept him always in motion. He always kept himself listed in the phone book.
He could never understand why anyone needed or wanted to discuss "meaning" in art. After having worked for Ansel, Minor White came back to San Francisco for a visit. Ansel had a number of photographs propped up on a ledge, one of which was a picture of a stump. Minor asked "Ansel, this photograph is beautiful, what does it MEAN?" Ansel replied, "It only means what it IS. It's a picture of a stump!"
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