I agree with that, except that viewing conditions do not always need to be "unusual" to cause perspective distortions.
If you make images and never view them, what is the purpose of the image?
As soon as you view your images, the viewing conditions need to be taken into account because they can change the perspective that the viewer sees (of course, they do not change the perspective captured in the image).
Ansel's book series The Camera, The Negative & The Print, cover different parts of the photographic process i.e. shooting, developing & printing. Between them they cover the whole process. The quote in the original post is from the Camera, so would not be expected to go into print viewing.
If you buy a book on morning coffee, do you expect it to talk about late night teas ?
In that case, the topics of wide-angle perspective and telephoto perspective should not have been mentioned. They both depend on the print viewing conditions. Ansel Adams should not have said that "The flatness of space is again caused by camera position (distance) rather than focal length" because it is simply untrue. It is actually caused by the print being viewed from much closer than the centre of perspective.
It would have been much better if he had simply said "read my third volume 'The Print' for the correct explanation".
I do not have a copy of 'The Print' and I wonder whether it does give an explanation of perspective distortions such as wide-angle perspective and telephoto perspective. If anyone has access to a copy, can you quote the appropriate paragraphs?
That discussion is very superficial. He makes no mention of "wide-angle perspective" or "telephoto perspective" and there is no attempt to explain them.
So, you do not agree with my statement in bold above. Please quote the paragraphs in which Ansel Adams explains "wide-angle perspective" and "telephoto perspective."
I do not agree that his trilogy was intended or expected to address perspective as anything more than the few sentences he chose to write. He knew the principles, but unlike some people, he was clearly not obsessed with that particular subject. I already expressed these things earlier in the thread and am not going to continue playing tug-of-war with you. Go back and read them if you need to. I re-posted the pages from the book to correct NCV's comment, and that's all.
I am here but I decided to stop posting at least for now. My oldest posts are still here, but my most recent ones are deleted, indeed.
Why - those forums turned into some form of generic "social media" which I dislike. I do not have FB, Instagram, X, etc., accounts. At dpreview in the old times, at least, the off topic discussions were clearly separated from the rest and did not bother me. Not here.