"Dogwood Blossoms, Yosemite National Park, California"

gelatin silver print mounted on cardboard

portfoliostamp, titled and signed by Allan Ross on verso

Ansel Adams is best known for his impressive landscape and nature photographs from the national parks, national monuments and wilderness areas of the western United States. Adams spent a large part of his life in these national parks and Indian reservations, where he not only worked as a photographer, but also supported them with his work, his publications and in his workshops and actively campaigned for their preservation throughout his life. His numerous writings aroused great public interest in the previously unknown wilderness areas of the West.
(wikipedia)

Ansel Adams made this image with a 5x7-inch view camera in 1938, the year he trekked through the high sierra (Sierra Nevada) with Edward Weston. Depending upon the year, dogwoods typically peak during April or May in Yosemite, evoking bursts of starlight against the bare forest backdrop. This dramatic contrast prompted Adams to compose one of his only still-life images. To capture the 12 blossoms in this spectacular spray of dogwoods, he placed them atop a nearby rock covered with pine needles and lichen. The Sierra Club published "Dogwood Blossoms" in 1960 after Ansel Adams selected it, along with 15 other images, for inclusion in "Portfolio III, Yosemite Valley ." Later, Adams selected it for his Museum Set Collection, a retrospective portfolio of what he considered his strongest work.
(The Ansel Adams Gallery, Yosemite National Park)