uncle earl

(Rick Norsigian holds up two images. On the left is a historically documented photo by Ansel Adams of a Jeffrey pine on Yosemite's Sentinel Dome. On the right is a print from one of dozens of glass negatives Norsigian bought at a garage sale.)

A Bay Area woman may have solid proof to support the assertions of the Ansel Adams estate that negatives a Fresno man bought at a yard sale were not taken by the famed nature photographer as he claims. She thinks they may have been taken by her Uncle Earl.

News spread Tuesday about the Fresno man who claimed to have stumbled across some of Adams' earliest works that were believed to have been destroyed in a fire.

Contractor and painter Rick Norsigian said he bought the box of glass negatives at a garage sale in Fresno for $45 a decade ago. A team of art, forensic, handwriting, and even weather experts has authenticated the 65 glass negatives as the work of the iconic photographer.

Norsigan and his representatives claim the negatives could be worth as much as $200 million.

Oakland resident Mariam l. Walton saw a picture of the famous Jeffrey Pine on Sentinal Dome at Yosemite during a report about the find on KTVU Tuesday night.

She said she immediately recognized the image as one taken by her uncle, Earl Brooks, back in 1923.

“I thought ‘Oh my God, that's exactly the same picture,’” said Walton.

Walton said her uncle lived in the Fresno area much of his life and often took pictures at Yosemite.

The photo taken by Walton’s Uncle Earl looks nearly identical to one of the examples that Norsigan has claimed to be from Ansel Adams.

“I keep thinking that perhaps that box of negatives belongs to Uncle Earl,” said Walton.

Scott Nichols of the Nichols Gallery in San Francisco has been studying Adams and his photography for 30 years. He visited Walton Wednesday to examine the photo. Nichols took measurements, studied the lighting and angles of the image. Nichols said the similarities between Uncle Earl’s photo and Norsigan’s purported Adams original were striking. Only the clouds are different. Nichols said that could mean Uncle Earl's photo is from another negative, taken moments later during the same shoot.

“What I find very interesting is the shadow detail down in here,” said Nichols with the photo in hand. “The shadows in the sunlight over here and over in here are almost identical.”

When asked for his opinion whether Walton's long passed uncle had debunked the alleged Ansel Adams discovery, Nichols indicated the photo presented a strong argument.

“To duplicate those shadows, to have the camera sit in the exact same place by two different photographers is virtually impossible,” said Nichols.

Nichols took Walton's four pictures from her Uncle Earl in for further study. He said he'd like to compare them with Ansel Adams originals and those found in Fresno to be able to tell with more certainty whether those new pictures are Ansel Adams' or Uncle Earl's.

- KTVU.com