No luck finding the quote, but I did come upon a website which is fantastic because it gives only quotes which are verified:
http://www.quotenik.com/?s=ansel+adams&x=9&y=12
Gareth said: I suspect the quote may be from his book, The Print
There's a copy for sale ... in Norwich!
http://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/title/the-print/author/ansel-adams/sortby/3/ to follow the original links.
Hi Gareth,
I managed to find a website that shows the whole book, "The Print"! The only problem is that the entire book is shown as scanned images and is therefore non-searchable. If you are willing to read through it you will at least see if that is the source of the quote. There was a prior book to The print which detailed darkroom techniques, so it may have been that one.
Why did you post this question? LOL. I have been going nuts trying to find the original source and it is a very tricky one to track down. You did this as an exercise to improve everyone's research skills, right?
Best regards,Brian.
p.s. oops, might help if I post the link to the book: http://www.scribd.com/doc/14076349/The-Print-Ansel-Adams
Brian and Harry,
Many thanks for your effort and suggestions. As you may have seen in my earlier post, I did find an online copy of The Print:
https://rapidshare.com/#!download|709p12|210275091|The_Print__Ansel_Adams.pdf|71096|0|0
As you said, Brian, it is non-searchable, but does have an index. I have had a pretty good look through it, but not read every word.
I posted the question because I was writing about the latest show at the National Gallery, London
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/content/conWebDoc/2612
I thought the Ansel Adams quote would be appropriate to illustrate a point I was making, but I have found another way to say the same thing instead.
I shall let you know when (and if !) the article gets published on a website.
Thanks for trying to track this down, Brian. The internet is very frustrating from this point of view. Sometimes, when you do find original sources, the quotes mean something quite different from what they seem to mean in isolation. The classic reversal of meaning is Mrs. Thatcher's, "There is no such thing as society." It means the opposite of what most people take it to mean:
http://briandeer.com/social/thatcher-society.htm
Harry,
Thanks for looking for this. Is is good to see Norwich making a mark!