MATTHEW ADAMS, ANSEL’S GRANDSON, DISPUTES VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE REPORT ISSUED BY YOUR EXPERTS SUCH AS THE HANDWRITING BELONGING TO VIRGINIA ADAMS. IS HE CORRECT?

Matthew Adams has stated that his grandmother would never make what he says is the obvious mistake of referring to Bridal Veil Falls as Bridal Vail Falls. The fact, however, is that this location was in fact referred to as Bridal Vail Falls throughout the 1800s and into the early 1900s. In fact, Bridal Veil and Bridal Vail have been used interchangeably by both photographers and scholars to describe this mesmerizing waterfall in the Yosemite Valley. A simple Google search revealed the following books which show that scholars referred to this location in Yosemite as Bridal Vail Falls:

Carleton E. Watkins: a listing of photographs in the collection of ... p39 (1984)
Mineral springs and health resorts of California p 350 (1892)
The Globe readers (ed. by A.F. Murison). Primer 1,2 - Page 350 (1882)
The golden state: a history of the region west of the Rocky ... - Page 242 (1876)
BEYOND THE WEST - Page 412 (1873)
Across the continent: a summer's journey to the Rocky Mountains, ... - Page 228 (1868)

Here are some recent links where photographers in Yosemite continue to refer to these majestic falls as Bridal Vail Falls:
http://www.wendellworld.com/PhotoGallery/Yosemite%20Winter/pages/Bridal%20Vail%20Falls.htm
http://www.hickerphoto.com/bridal-vail-falls-photos.htm
http://debasis-photography.smugmug.com/Nature/Nature-Landscape/7032068_Qh32L/1/490277256_DTBeX#490277256_DTBeX

In fact, Ansel Adams’ colleague A. C. Pillsbury used the terms Bridal Vail Falls and Bridal Veil Falls interchangeably. There are two in his catalogue. One is spelled Bridal Vail Falls and another is spelled Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite. Therefore, at the time Pillsbury and Adams were working in Yosemite, Vail and Veil both appeared to be acceptable names for these falls.

Here is the link to Pillsbury’s online catalogue. Number 10984 is Bridal Veil Falls and 14276 (further down) is Bridal Vail Falls.
http://acpillsburycatalogue.blogspot.com/2007/05/7001-and-up-to-about-80000.html
Also, here is an actual Pillsbury photograph of the falls provided by the San Joaquin Valley Library System. The title “Bridal Vail Falls” is written directly right on the image:
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt2f59q24j/?brand=oac4

The real issue that Mr. Adams has since clarified is that he himself has no professional expertise similar to the qualifications of the experts we retained. Further, Mr. Adams stated that he has failed to engage any experts to address the questions he raised as to the authenticity of the Norsigian negatives. Therefore, his comments are merely his personal opinion and are not based on any professional expertise. In particular, he has no expertise or training in handwriting analysis, which is a legally acceptable and widely held and recognized methodology of proving the authenticity of a person’s handwriting. Respectfully, Mr. Adams is not qualified to dispute the court approved experts we engaged to work independently and who came to the same conclusion—the handwriting belonged to Virginia Adams.

WILLIAM TURNAGE, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF THE ANSEL ADAMS PUBLISHING RIGHTS TRUST HAS CALLED THE INVESTIGATION AND ANNOUNCEMENT A “SHAM” AND “FRAUDULENT.” MR. TURNAGE ALSO STATED THAT ADOLF HITLER USED SIMILAR TACTICS. WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?

We read a series of comments from William Turnage, Managing Director of the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust (“Trust”). Here is the CNN article where he has made these comments. Comparing Mr. Norsigian and individuals associated with him to Adolf Hitler is unconscionable. What is especially appalling is that Mr. Turnage described the team of experts who were part of the authentication process as “crooks” and “con men.” This is a shameful attack on the professional reputations of some of the top leaders in their respective fields including two court qualified handwriting experts, a retired FBI agent and a former Assistant United States Attorney.

DOES THE PRINT IN THE POSSESSION OF MIRIAM WALTON OF OAKLAND ESTABLISH THAT HER UNCLE, NOT ANSEL ADAM, CREATED THE NEGATIVES?

No. We welcome the opportunity to further examine the print that Mrs. Walton has in her possession. We note, however, that this is a print and not a glass negative. In fact, we do not believe that Mrs. Walton herself even suggests that her Uncle Earl Brooks created the glass negative from which the print was made, but only that he had owned the print which was then passed down to her. So, from the existence of the print itself it cannot be determined who took the photograph (i.e. made the glass negative). From the televised images, the Uncle Earl print does bear a passing resemblance to the images in the Norsigian collection. However, we have been told that the other prints Mrs. Walton has in her possession are very different and certainly not consistent with our negatives. Unlike all of the additional proof we have to link our negatives to Ansel Adams, it cannot be authoritatively determined whether Mrs. Walton’s print came from a negative created by Ansel Adams.

DID “POP LAVAL” MAKE THE NEGATIVES IN YOUR POSSESSION?

No. Mr. Norsigian spoke to Pop Laval’s granddaughter Elizabeth Laval early in the process and she told him then that she did not believe these were her grandfather’s negatives. She confirmed again last week that these negatives were not made by her grandfather. Here is her exact response in a CNN article:
But the theory that Laval authored Norsigian's photos hit a snag when she opened his ledger. His numbers that correspond to the Norsigian plates show he would have been shooting elsewhere on those dates.
"I have to assume they were not his," Laval said.

THE NEGATIVES HAVE BEEN SAID TO BE WORTH $200 MILLION. WHERE DID THIS FIGURE COME FROM?

This monetary figure came from David A. Streets who is an art expert, and dealer who owns a gallery in Beverly Hills, where he allowed us to host a press conference announcing the results of the experts’ investigation. The night before our press conference, CNN asked Mr. Streets to put a value on the negatives. He said that the negatives were potentially worth as much as $200 million, including licensing fees and print sales over the course of several decades.

WHY ARE YOU NOT USING A PRINT MAKER TRAINED BY ANSEL ADAMS?

We decided to work with Jesse Kalisher who is both an accomplished print maker and a photographer with an international reputation. Mr. Kalisher was a successful advertising and marketing executive when he had an epiphany, walked away from his career and began traveling and taking pictures. Today, his photography is in the permanent collections of museums all over the world from the Louvre to the Smithsonian. We are confident that Mr. Kalisher is as good at his craft as any print maker who might have happened to be trained by Ansel Adams over 20 years ago.

ARE YOU WILLING TO SUBMIT THE NEGATIVES TO CARBON DATING TO DETERMINE THE AGE OF THE NEGATIVES?

While we believe that there is no need to conduct a carbon dating test as there is absolutely no doubt about the age of the negatives, we are willing to submit the negatives to this test if the Adams Family and Trust will agree that the results will be conclusive proof that the works were created by Ansel Adams.

At every step of the process, we have reached out to the Adams family and Trust. We have constantly been rebuffed.

We once again invite Matthew Adams and the Trust to engage in a meaningful dialogue and examine the evidence which they have consistently refused to do. We believe that any honest and fair assessment will lead to but one conclusion—these are the lost negatives of Ansel Adams.

MEDIA INQUIRIES
Emily Coppel
tel. (707) 481-4042
coppel(at)gmail.com