The Ansel Adams Gallery
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
7 reviews for The Ansel Adams Gallery
There is a really nice gift shop attached to the Ansel Adams gallery. The photos are amazing! They also have a nice selection of books, jewelry, postcards and other neat gifts.
If you get a chance, my husband highly recommends signing up for one of their photography courses. If you go into the gallery, you will see some of the work of the instructors. There is a ton of photographs in the Mountain House from some of these photographers. The photos are stunning, it's hard to imagine being able to see such beauty in real life.
Um yeah. This isn't really a formal gallery. My wife and I drove across the park thinking we were going to walking into a beautiful gallery with Adam's works hung up along the wall. Nope.
You enter the gallery and you set foot into a gift shop. The gift shop like the other 2 within a mile or so have local artisan crafts and stunning pictures by local artists.
At the back of the store is the "gallery." The gallery consists of a few original photos (I counted about 4). The rest of the gallery is a few books if Adam's pictures that you can flip through to order some prints.
The fact that this gallery was also stocked with numerous types of film (i bought 120) , more so than the ritz camera by my house, pleased me immensely.
I wish it didn't have all the stupid little books, the rocks, the indian crap, and all the other "bring in money quick" rubbish.
However, the Ansel Adams images are so incredible, this "gallery" (it's really very small) is a must visit for anyone. Although I'm not a huge fan of the newer yosemite photographs, the ones by the photographers who took fifteen stills and combined them and used pink lighting to make the tree purple or whatever.. I understand the need for all this crap to keep the cash flow coming.
But, when an original on the walls is selling for $45,000, can you get rid of the Eric Carle books in the center please? And the native jewelry?
I was glad to find a $20 "poster" alternative to the three hundred dollar prints on the wall. I was also glad to find a souvenir other than pencils, and to find film.
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I've never been to the physical location of The Ansel Adams Gallery. However, I recently purchased two of his framed and matted B&W photographs to help decorate my new home.
I've been a fan of his photography ever since discovering him a decade or so ago.
I bought "Tetons and Snake River," and "Clearing Winter Storm" in the 16 x 20 size. Both have a white matt and a matt black finish metal frame - very tasteful and understated. The prices were very reasonable!
One day I hope to visit Yosemite National Park as well as the physical location of The Ansel Adams Gallery!
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Calling this place a "gallery" is a bit of a misnomer. There are some lovely Ansel Adams prints and books toward the back but it's just not the gallery it once was. Mostly now it's a bookstore which really irritates me because Yosemite already has a bookstore in this area and doesn't need another one!
Bring back the gallery atmosphere of my youth and put up more Ansel Adams pictures! This place should be 80-90% Ansel Adams photos (for sale or not) and maybe 10-20 percent books (mostly about Ansel Adams or photography) NOT the other way around like it is now!!!!
It's become too too commercial and that really grates me.
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You knew what you were getting into when you decided to go to Yosemite Valley...I was there on vacation like i am every July,and they have all sorts of upper end and lower end items to purchase. It is not so much an art gallery but somewhere to purchase fine jewelry, art and other menagerie from yosemite and other artists. Go because its somewhere to go and see, go because they have stuff that is so outragous it will make the kitch at the village seem affordable. Love the place, but you know its going to be pricey with the tag "gallery"- that however does not stop me from buying jewelry every year, unique pieces i can't find anywhere else. This year? A Kathy Obelson pendant necklace and earrings. Check out my pic and remember you didn't go to yosemite for the shopping.
Perhaps they should rename this store "Adams Gifts & Photo Gallery," BUT I'll never forget (back in the 60's) being at Mirror Lake with my photography Guru & buddy, Steve Centanni, watching the effect of the fading day light on Half Dome, the smell of smoke, & being so high on the Glory of Yosemite in the Fall; then being dragged down to Answel's place, which was then called Best's Studios (owned by Ansel's wife, Virginia, & her parents before her). They truly did a lot to encourage me to be an "up & coming photographer" with assistance in getting film for my two large-format cameras, e.g., which isn't easy to come by up here in the mountains. The photos on the walls & books were so alive that I just had to go back to the Arches above the Ahwahnee Hotel the following day, & climb up to Devil's Bathtub (see photo), to see for myself if the stained granite was *that* gorgeous -- it was; even in black & white. 15 Years later, climbing up there with "What's His Name", I was able to get an award-winning photo of my "other half" in spite of the challage of the glare off this metamorphic rock filled with quartz crystals, amphibole, feldspar, & yes, magic! Were it not for Ansel's staff, including classes they offer, & their professional knowledge (including books for inspiration), I wouldn't have worked so hard to get to some of these locations just to get those amazing photos.
Its true that my first visit to that store, 45 years ago was a much more "emotional" event, with the smell of wood smoke, great music, & maybe even cider occasionally, BUT, it is truly amazing how little income they would get on the photography "stuff" compared to the Indian Jewelry & ceramic gifts, & you can't keep the doors open with the love we all feel for those magnificent photos.
Photographers, like musicians I'm afraid, spend a LOT of time talking to sales people & might not make "that rent-paying purchase" for several days -- or perhaps not at all, compared to the lure of Navajo & Zuni silver.
This "Gallery" also allows well-mannered children to come inside as long as a parent is controlling their every move. This is important if you want to raise the next generation of artists **&** consumers. I know I was up there at leasst once a month from October until Mothers Day & ALWAYS went to the Gallery
to look at new photography books I couldn't afford, but wanted the info. I was also able to get signed 8x10 photos Ansel took for a mere $35, & one of his huge photos of Half Dome in the moonlight. MOST of the photography stuff (incl. books) is on the "upper level" where it is safer from kids. If you have a technical question ask when you can talk to one of their "technical" prople... they do exist! Visit in the "off season" -- you won't regret it. Take one of their classes, if you are serious about improving your photos. My persistance has taken me a long way -- including classes & dark room time at our local colleges, & geology studies (inspired by photos I saw at this Gallery), AND these trips to that quaint little cottage gallery certainly were a major factor in "molding" me into the person I am today. This would not have happened without Ansels & Virginia Adams' "Gallery-Gift Shop".