Top:  Rick Norsigian holds up one of the 60 glass negatives he purchased at a yard sale in Fresno in 2000.  The negatives are believed to be the work of famed photographer Ansel Adams.

Middle left:  Experts authenticate some of the negatives.

Middle right:  Myron Nash of Low Digital in Burbank, a digital restoration company for motion pictures, prepares to scan some of the negatives.

Bottom:  The team of experts, formed by former Fresno State University Student Arnold Peter.  In the center is a Korona view camera, the same camera Adams used to make the glass plates. (Photo by Ralph Berrett)

Fresno, CA (Oct. 16, 2009) – When Rick Norsigian first saw the wooden box with 60 glass negatives he found at a Fresno yard sale inside, he had no clue as to what he stumbled upon.

When it was commented on that the negatives closely resembled the work of the iconic photographer Ansel Adams, he set out trying to authenticate his finds.  After nearly eight years he turned to Arnold Peter, formerly a criminology major at Fresno State University and now working at Universal Studios, who assembled a group of experts from the art, entertainment and technology industries in order to wrap up the process of proving that they were Adams’ work.

Peter talked about the significance of the find.

“I think it is quite significant, both from a historic and an artistic perspective,” Peter said.  “These would be the first negatives or images created by Ansel Adams that have been found in the last 50 years.  And they’ve never, ever been published before.”

Evidence that has been found includes a handwriting expert confirming that the handwriting on the envelopes that held the negatives belonged to Virginia Adams, and a meteorological expert has compared some of Adams’ photographs to the negatives taken in the same location, and by comparing cloud formation, the snow on the mountains and a tree’s shadow, has confirmed that the photographs were taken on the same day.

One group of experts is from Lowry Digital from Burbank, which Myron Nash, the marketing and public relations director for the business, said is the world’s premier digital restoration company for motion pictures.  To date, they have restored more than 400 motion pictures, including “Snow White,” “Casablanca,” and most recently the Apollo 11 moon landing footage from 1969.

“We do really high-end restorations where we actually analyze frame-by-frame motion pictures, and pull out finite detail, and do pristine restorations,” Nash said.

Peter contacted Lowry about the discovery, and had them take a look at the negatives.  This endeavor marks the first time Lowry has worked with still images.

“It’s something that’s certainly out-of-the-box for us,” Nash said.  “We’re used to working with the Hollywood community, and certainly with motion pictures and the film studios, and this is something that’s an exciting project for us to be involved with, and we’re looking forward to seeing what we can actually do with this imagery.”

Kelly Ryner, vice president of Thinkwell Group in Burbank, said that the images will be on exhibit in Fresno in the future, perhaps at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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