(Option 1)

Ansel Adams is truly a master of not only controlling the camera's eye but also the eyes of his audience.  He is able to point the eye of the audience to a specific focal point but also create a sense of rhythm in his photographs which guides the eyes of his audience along certain paths. This is certainly true in all of his photographs, including one of particular interest entitled "Eagle Peak and Middle Brother, Winter, Yosemite National Park, California".  Through his many uses of contrast and line, Ansel Adams deliberately guides the audience's eyes in a specific direction throughout the photograph. 

The first, and possibly most obvious, use of contrast is in color.  The edges of where the darkness of the trees meet the whiteness of the snow covered mountains are clearly defined, but only through this use of color contrast.  This use of color contrast also establishes a since of depth in the photograph, which is amplified through the gray fog around the trees which gradually move along the grayscale from quite dark to very light.  In a photograph of a similar landscape taken by another photographer, the audience may think that the trees are relatively close to the mountains.  The skillful Ansel Adams very deliberately points out that there is a relatively considerable distance between the trees and the mountains by having the color gradually change in hue.

Adams' next use of contrast is in the liveliness of the objects in the photograph.  The branches of the tree in the center of the photograph seem to be swaying very lively, which implies that they are moving under the persuasion of the wind.  The mountains, however, seem to be very stagnant and look to be quite dead, which implies that the mountains are probably not very inhabitable.  This also perpetuates the idea that the wind is blowing from right to left because there is no movement on the left side of the mountain.  This is because the wind can not make it to that side of the mountain the agitate the snow.  The stagnant nature of the mountain makes the center tree stand out very much.  The tree to the right of the photograph also looks dead, which, to some degree, makes it blend in with the mountains much more than the center tree does.  This could mean that the tree to the right is older than the one in the center and has simply had to endure far too many winters like this one to stay alive.  The fact that the one tree is alive, however, implies a sense of optimism despite the blizzard-like weather.  

Adams' next use of contrast is through his use of line and direction of objects.  The main mountain in the picture leans towards the right while the tree leans towards the left.  This implies that the wind is blowing towards the left.  Not all of Adams' use of contrast, however, implies something deeper.  He simply uses certain things about the photograph to guide the audience's eyes.  For example, the contours of the mountains converge at the top of the middle tree.  This is a technique Adams uses to guide the audience's eyes, but does not imply anything deeper.

It is also possible to find varying degrees of contrast within a single object, rather than compared to another object.  For example, in the tree there are sharp horizontal and vertical lines, but there are also smooth complex curves.  In the mountains, the soft snow is contrasted by sharp jagged lines from rocks.  One possible implication from this fact is that nature can be both tranquil and dangerous.  The use of contrast in a single object, in addition to contrast used throughout the photograph as a whole, makes a photograph with several layers of contrast.  This complicates the photograph and makes it much more interesting.

The focal point of this piece is the top branch of the center tree.  There are many clues which make this apparent.  The darkness of the tree meets the whiteness of the snow, which helps draw the audience's eyes towards this point on the photograph.  Also, as previously mentioned, there are three edges of the mountain which explicitly point towards the top branch of the tree.  Also, vertical lines are crossed by horizontal lines, which make it appear almost as if it were an "x" marking the spot.  

Throughout the photograph, there is almost as much subtle, gradual contrast as there is sharp and obvious contrast.  The fog gradually changes from dark to light near the trees.  This, as mentioned earlier, adds depth to the photograph.  Also, the left side of the photograph is much darker than that of the right side of the photograph.  This implies that the source of light is from the right side of the right mountain.  The left side of the photograph is therefore darker because the right mountain casts a very large shadow onto the left mountain.

There are many photographers who could bring some contrast into a particular photograph, but Adams, however, goes above and beyond in terms of his use of contrast.  He entices the audience to the photograph so much that the audience feels like they are there and staring at the massive mountains.  Only a true master could find contrast in color in something colorless, depth in something presented two dimensionally, line in oblique objects, and liveliness in something inanimate.  Adams brings all of this to the photograph, with simply pushing a single button with his finger.

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