Reflecting on this anniversary, Alan Ross says “Over the 50 years I have been the sole printer of Ansel’s Special Edition prints, I have often paused to reflect on the honor and pleasure that that “work” has given me. Every time I handle one of his original negatives or see the image I have exposed emerge from a white piece of paper in a tray of developer, I am moved by the feeling of the faith and trust Ansel had in gifting me the experience of making these prints.

When I left his full-time employ in 1979 to move and start my own photography studio, he told me he understood and supported my decision but also told me he really liked the way I had been making the prints for the last four years and asked if I would be willing to continue. It meant that I would need to commute to Carmel from San Francisco on weekends nearly once a month, but his friendship and belief in me made that travel much more like visiting a friend than doing any kind of work.

When printing the SEPs while he was still alive, I always set up the negative and darkroom, first making what I hoped was a print that would please him, and I always took that sample out to him to ask his opinion. He might point to something, saying “make this a little lighter or darker” or “give it a little more or less contrast”. Then I‘d make another print or two until he’d give me a pat on the back, saying “ya got it, man.” Then I’d begin the batch processing.

In 1984, I was in the darkroom making prints and sent samples over the hospital for him to comment on. A week or two later he, as he tended to put it, ‘passed into the final wash.’”

In his autobiography written before his passing Ansel was quoted to say, “The success of [Yosemite Special Edition Photographs] depends on their consistently high print quality, and that hinges upon the assistant I choose to print them… Alan was my photographic assistant from 1974 until 1979 and he continues to sensitively make the Special Edition Prints. He knows the negatives as well as I do, and interprets them as closely as possible to my original fine prints of those images.” (2)

In honor of this special anniversary, we invite you to explore our exclusive collection of Yosemite Special Edition Photographs, and experience the undimmed magic of each piece that has continued to captivate park visitors and beyond, for so many years.