Chronology
In my eyes, the wilderness is more then just landscape, its beauty. Seldom does other
forms of art seem to interest me in such a way. Throughout my life I have visited the Sierra
Nevada mountains several times. The beauty always leaves me with the same chilling effects.
Living in the city can cause one to forget how breath taking the earth can be. Often times we
can t leave are busy lives to enjoy mother natures finest pieces. However, Photography by Ansel
Adams can give you that same sense of really being there. For over 50 years Ansel Adams
transformed scenes from landscapes into some of the finest photographs ever taken. Thus, the
prestige and popularity of his work made him a master of photography, and a legend.
Born in 1902, in San Fransico, Adams had an early interest in music and the piano, an
interest which he initially hoped to develop into a professional career. (masters-of-
phorography,1) But, his experience at Yosemite for the first time in 1916, at the age of 14 with
his box brownie camera, would forever change his life. Adams once said I knew my destiny
when I first experienced Yosemite. He began studying photography with a photo finisher,
creating his first works. Each summer he returned to Yosemite were he would explore, climb,
and photograph. (Masters-of-photography,2) After his first portfolio was published in 1927, at
The Essay on Ansel Adams life and two analysis of his photographs
Ansel Adams was born February 20, 1902, in San Francisco, California. Ansel took an interest in music at an early age. He taught himself how to play the piano and enjoyed the surroundings of nature. In 1916, he and his parents went on a trip to Yosemite National Park where he received his first camera, the Kodak Box Brownie. His first photographs recorded their vacation. Ansel fell in love with ...
the age of 25, he had to make a decision, whether to continue as a full-time concert pianist, or to
devote all his energies to photography on a professional basis, a risky and mostly untried career
path at that time. (Clark,1).
Naturally he chose photography, which meant the Sierra Nevada
mountains for the next 50 years.
In 1928 he married Virginia Best and began to work as an official photographer for the
Sierra Club. Adam s first important one man show was held in 1931 at the M. H. de Young
Memorial Museum, and in the same year was also presented at the Smithsonian Institution. A
year later he founded Group f/64. The f/64 is a philosophy to perfect realization of photographic
vision through technically flawless prints. (Masters-of-Photography,2).
This shows why his
pictures always seemed so perfect.
2
In 1933 he began a gallery in San Fransico called, the Ansel Adams Gallery. Later
Adams moved to Yosemite Valley and made trips throughout the Southwest with Weston ,
Georgia O Keefe, and David McAlpin. (Clark,2).
Adams, with the help of David McAlpin
assisted in the foundation of the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, in
1940 .(Masters-of-Photography2).
Ansel Adams said during World war II I became a photo
muralist for the department of the Interior in Washington D.C. This was were he learned the
zone system, a way of exposure, processing, and printing. During the years 1944-45 Adams
lectured and taught courses in photography at the museum. This teaching later established one of
the first departments of photography at the California School of Fine Arts in 1946. (Clark3).
In 1948 Ansel Adams received the award of Guggenhiem Fellowship. This Meant 5 years
of photographing national park locations and monuments. Masters-of-Photography says his first
portfolio, Portfolio 1: In Memory of Alfred Stieglitz, was issued in 1948, and in the same year he
began to publish technical volumes in Basic Photo Series . Portfolio 2: was named: The National
The Essay on Ansel Adams Photography Color First
Ansel Adams Ansel Adams A rugged man stands on top of a mountain. The year is 1945. Strapped on his back are tripods, sleeping bags, a tent, and a couple of large view cameras. He has been traveling for days without seeing another person. His old dusty station wagon is parked miles away. He climbs the smooth slippery rocks using some frail rope tied together, not the usual climbing gear. On his ...
Parks and Monuments. Ansel said in 1955 I finally began my photography workshop in
Yosemite. This is the one place I could never live without. As a result of being back in
Yosemite, Adams produced portfolio 3: Yosemite Valley, which was later published in 1960.
In 1962 Adams moved to Carmel, California, where in 1967 he was instrumental in the
foundation of the Friends of Photography, of which he became president. (Clark,4).
Later
Adams exhibited his work from 1923-1963 at the de Young Museum, and in 1966 he was elected
a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. At the age of 74 Adams presented a
plan to President Gerald Ford to help preserve National Parks for the future. President Ford
responded by submitting a Bicentennial Land Heritage Act, a 10-year, $1.5 billion commitment to
double the present acreage for national parks, recreation areas and wild life
sanctuaries. Kennerly,5).
Adams said it had to have been the biggest achievement in my
3
entire life. In the last ten years of his life Adams was no longer an active photographer but spent
most of his time publishing books of his life and being with his wife Virginia. (Kennerly,9).
The Style
Ansel Adams had a style that seemed far more technologically advanced then anyone else
of his time. His pictures to me seem so perfect, you feel as if your really there. However, the
scenes that he chooses are not what you would probably see in your daily hike through Yosemite
National Park. This is due to the fact that his photographs almost appear to have false images
drawn in. For Example, In Hernadaz, New Mexico, In 1941 Ansel shot a picture he called
moonrise, a scene almost to perfect to be real, which was set at a cemetery with the background
containing a sun setting, a moon Rising, Stars, Streaks of glowing clouds over the mountains, and
bright white crosses lit up in front of the cemetery. This picture is unexplainable, you couldn t
possible come across such a greater site. Moonrise is just an example of how extraordinary
Ansels pictures really were.
Adams says I am frequently asked, How did you make this photograph? The
The Essay on The Wars Robert Picture Life
The Wars "A picture is worth a thousand words," we say. From the eyes and mind of the archivist studying the pictures of Robert Ross' experience with war, they are worth a lot more. The photographs in the epilogue of Timothy Findley's "The Wars" play an important role in Findley establishing both a trust with the reader, and a sense of realism to his war story. This satisfies the need for realism ...
questions are often detailed, sometimes complex, and sometimes unanswerable. I have no secrets
of craft; I answer as best I can in quires on equipment, methods, and relevant situations. His main
philosophy is the more far-out any work appears at first, the more exciting and valid it may
prove to be. (Newhall,13).
In another statement, Adams says I believe I can bring some
excitement to the craft of photography; As with all creative work, the craft must be adequate for
the demands of expression; We can seek the most compelling evidences of creativity in the
present and hope for an effective future- the potentials of which we can guess but never define.
These statements obviously show how serious Adams took photography. I feel that his sharp
ways truly differed him from most other photographers.
6
Works Cited
Newhall, Nancy. The Eloquent Light. San Fransico: Sierra Club,
1963.
Jussim, Estelle. Landscape as Photograph. New Haven and London: Yale
University Press, 1985.
Alinder, Mary. Ansel Adams a Biography. Boston: Little, Brown and
Company, 1985.
Lux, Fiat. Ansel Adams. The Regents of the University of California, UCI.
http://www. Book. Uci. Edu/Adams Home. Html. 1994.
Adams, Ansel. The Making of 40 Photograghs. New York: Lttle, Brown
and Company,1983.
Clark, Ken. Ansel Easton Adams (1902-1984).
http://www.bmrc.co.uk/scribble
ansel.html. July 1996.
Kennerlly, David. An Enn Exclusive! Ansel Adams An American ICON. Enn
Environmental News Network. http://www.enn.com/features/ansel. 1999.
Masters of Photography: Ansel Adams. Masters of Photograpghy. http://www
Masters-of-photography.com/A/adams.
