The Associated Press follows up the story of the Ansel Adams negatives with some details on how the trove was authenticated and the somewhat touching story of Rick Norsigian, the construction worker/painter who bought them for $45:
Rick Norsigian holds up a photograph made from a glass negative shot by the late photographer Ansel Adams, during a news conference in Beverly Hills, on Tuesday. (Credit: Nick Ut/AP)
He stored the negatives in a bank vault and hired Peter three years ago to authenticate them. Peter said two handwriting experts concluded that writing on manila envelopes holding the negatives was that of Adams’ wife, Virginia. He also said a meteorologist studied the cloud formation, snowdrift and shadows on one image and compared it with a similar photograph by Adams, concluding they were taken at the same location on the same day. […] “This has been such a long journey. I thought I’d never get to the end,” Norsigian said. “It kind of proves a construction worker-painter can be right.”
An exhibition of 17 of the photographs is planned for October at Fresno State University, and a documentary is planned on the negatives’ sale and authentication, Peter said. A website selling prints also has been established, Peter said.
