How did Adams visualize Monolith?
What he saw was “the majesty of the sculptural shape of the Dome in the solemn effect of half sunlight and half shadow.” After taking the shot he realized that what he saw in his mind’s eye would not be properly conveyed with the yellow filter he used. Now he had only one plate left. It had to work. “I saw the photograph as a brooding form, with deep shadows and a distant sharp white peak against a dark sky.” He realized that the only way to achieve this visualization was to use a deep red filter. Since the red filter reduced the light by a factor of 16, to allow enough light to hit the negative he had to keep the shutter open for a 5 seconds. “Fortunately there was no wind to disturb the camera during the long exposure.” …back to top C. Was Monolith significant to Adams’ “visualization” theory? On this day in the early part of his career, Adams began to develop the theory of “visualization” that led to the Zone system. “This photograph represents my first conscious visualization; in
