Ansel Adams Shoots “Moonrise” (1941)

The most famous landscape photograph in history, taken by the greatest landscape photographer in history, was shot in the early evening of November 1, 1941.  Both the photograph and the effort to date its creation are remarkable stories.

The life of Ansel Adams is chronicled on his birthday, February 20 (learn more about Adams here), but this day is special for the photographic event that occurred then.  Ansel Adams was 39 years old and photographing in the countryside north of Santa Fe, New Mexico.  He’d spent a disappointing day in the Chama Valley area on the state border with Colorado, unable to get the right combination of subject matter and light to satisfy his demanding standards.  As the light began to fade, he, his son and assistants climbed into his well-used Pontiac station wagon and headed for home.

Adams drove fast—always—but he knew the roads well on the way back to Santa Fe.  As he drove south on U.S. 84, he would have been watching the sky, the clouds and the light, perhaps picturing in his mind the possibilities for a photograph.  Then, as he rounded a bend in the road, he saw the small village of Hernandez to the west.  The moon had risen and was illuminated by the setting sun over his left shoulder.  Below the moon lay banks of white clouds along the peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and below the mountains lay Hernandez.  In the foreground, the white crosses of a cemetery glowed brightly from the reflected sunshine.

Adams slammed on the brakes, swerved to the shoulder and, in a storm of gravel and dust, jumped from the driver’s seat.  He began throwing equipment from the car, ordering his assistants to bring the camera, tripod, film and light meter.  Knowing that the light might disappear at any second, Adams rushed to assemble the equipment—but the light meter could not be found.  Remembering that the moon reflected 250 foot-candles of light, he estimated the right setting for the shot—a one-second exposure at an aperture of f/32.

He took the shot.  He prepared to take another shot—but stopped.  In the seconds required to reverse the film, the light had disappeared.  He’d had just one chance to expose the film.