“Moonrise, New Mexico” by Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams (1902–1984) was one of the most influential photographers in the US, who particularly became famous for his magnificent black and white photography of American landscapes and national parks. He is the role model of many photographers  and set standards with his shots. And as chance would have it, one of his most renowned photographs is an image with the rising Moon in New Mexico.

The picture “Moonrise, New Mexico”, was made, according to research, on Saturday 1st November 1941 at 4:49 pm MST on a trip that Ansel Adams was undertaking with his son Michael and his mentor and friend George Cedric Wright. Far away, you can the snow-covered mountains and above them the almost full moon in the sky. (The full moon in Hernandez was on Monday, 3rd November 1941 at 08:59:42 pm MST).

The special characteristic of this scenery lay in the constellation of the setting sun, which was behind Adam, and which made the crucifixes of the cemetery that laid in the foreground, light up white. There was only a moment of time to set up the plate camera and the wooden tripod in order to create exactly this one shot. And yet, this was really not the period of quick snapshots, but of the well thought-out and well prepared shots.  The more astonishing it is that this unique photograph has been accomplished. Maybe, it is precisely this lucky encounter of circumstance, which creates the power of this shot. Adams was capable of capturing the magic of the moment.

Ansel Adam’s photographs radiate a fascinating tranquility, which conveys a soothing contemplation to our hectic city mode. A look at these images of days gone by, lets us forget time.