Monolith, the Face of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California is a black and white photograph taken by Ansel Adams in 1927 that depicts the western face of Half Dome in Yosemite, California. In the foreground of the photo, viewers are able to see the texture and detail of the rock as well as the background landscape of pine trees and the Tenaya Peak. Monolith was used by the Sierra Club as a visual aid for the environmental movement, and was the first photograph Adams made that was based on feelings, a concept he would come to define as visualization and prompt him to create the Zone System. The image stands as a testament to the intense relationship Adams had with the landscape of Yosemite, as his career was largely marked by photographing the park. Monolith has also physically endured the test of time as the original glass plate negative is still intact and printable. The photograph is a part of the portfolio Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras, released in 1927.
Location
On April 17, 1927, Ansel Adams and his four friends, Cedric Wright, Charles Michael, Arnold Williams, and his girlfriend Virginia Best, set out on a half day hike to the “Diving Board”, the location from which Monolith was taken. The "Diving Board" is a large rock that jets out over the Yosemite Valley, four thousand feet below the western face, providing the perfect view of Half Dome. In his backpack Adams had a Korona view camera, different lenses and filters, twelve Wratten panchromatic glass plates, and a large wooden tripod. Not only did he have a heavy load, he was also wearing basketball sneakers which struggled to tread on the snowy terrain. Once they reached the "Diving Board" Adams knew he had found the perfect vantage point of the rock that looms at tall and thick and sprawls across . When he first arrived at noon, the light was not right so he waited over two hours to make sure the light was hitting the face perfectly, since he envisioned the rock to be half in shadow and half in light. Adams took multiple other images on the climb and while waiting, and was only left with two glass plates to capture the perfect photo of Half Dome. Given the manual nature of view cameras, it is easy to mess up the aperture or shutter speed, and even a gust of wind can mess up a photograph. This difficulty speaks to Adams’ skill and intentionality as he got the Monolith in one shot. At 2:30 in the afternoon with two glass plates remaining, Adams was ready to take the photograph of Half Dome he had envisioned in his mind.
Development process and technique
To create Monolith, Ansel Adams used a very specific and innovate technique to manipulate the photograph to project the image he had in his mind's eye. Adams was aware of the photographic technique photogenia, which is the practice of intentionally manipulating lighting, exposure, and printing to communicate meaning. With photogenia in mind, he set out to take his first exposure of Half Dome using a K2 Yellow filter. The product was Half Dome with K2 Yellow Filter, 1927, but Adams immediately realized that the contrast would not create a dramatic enough feeling. With the yellow filter, the sky would still be light and there would be minimal tonal contrast. Adams was determined to conjure a photo that expressed the same overwhelming feeling that he felt standing on the “Diving Board” looking up at Half Dome that afternoon. Photographic emulsions are less sensitive to red light, so photos of reds are darker and underexposed. Adams decided to use a deep-red filter to transform the bright sky into a dark black background. The harsh tones and contrast between the white snow and black sky make smaller details more clear, and the eye is immediately drawn to the highlighted elements. Monolith was Adam's first time controlling the viewers experience of his photos and was his first time using photographic principles that are reflected and refined in his later work.