"When we think of the connection between music and photography, one iconic name that often comes up in any discussion is Ansel Adams.
"Ansel Adams spent his formative years obsessively training to become a concert pianist. Although he eventually abandoned his musical aspirations, the piano taught him a great deal about disciplined technique, accuracy, structure, and the value of persistent practice and repetition.
"When reminiscing about his transition into photography during a 1984 interview conducted by Milton Esterow (Editor, ARTnews), Adams reflected, 'Study in music gave me a fine basis for the discipline of photography. I’d have been a real Sloppy Joe if I hadn’t had that.'
"When asked to elaborate, he added, 'Well, in music you have this absolutely necessary discipline from the very beginning. And you are constructing various shapes and controlling values. Your notes have to be accurate or else there’s no use playing. There’s no casual approximation.'
"Adams revealed that he would often hear music while photographing (not in the sentimental sense, but structurally), 'You see relationships of shapes. I would call it a design sense. It’s the beginning of seeing what the photograph is.'
"From the detailed writings he left to the near perfectionist approach he took in the darkroom, it was evident that his rigorous musical training had a profound impact on his visual aptitude (and behaviors). He even went so far as to incorporate musical metaphors into his narrative when describing the act of photography – 'The negative is comparable to the composer’s score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways,' he would later say."
From the article “Hearing the Light” – The Deep Connection between Photography and Music," here:
