- Mount Williamson—Clearing Storm by Ansel Adams, 1944.
(1902–84). Famous for his striking images of Western landscapes, U.S. photographer Ansel Adams was a master of his craft. He was among the first to promote photography as an art form. Adams also was well known for his love of nature. Early lifeAnsel Adams was born in San Francisco, California, on February 20, 1902. He was originally a student of music; photography was only a hobby for him until 1927. That year he published his first collection of photographs, called Parmellian Prints of the High Sierras. The style of these photographs was similar to the style of “Pictorialist” photographs. Pictorialists took photographs that imitated Impressionist paintings by softening details in misty images. Professional lifeIn 1930 Adams came across the work of another American photographer, Paul Strand. Strand's photographs emphasized sharp detail and pure, beautiful tones, a style that was called straight photography. Impressed with this style, in 1932 Adams helped to form Group f/64, an association of photographers who practiced and promoted straight photography. The group was named after a camera lens setting that produces the qualities of the straight photography style. Adams became known for his technical innovations. In 1935 he published Making a Photograph, the first of many books on photographic technique, illustrated with reproductions of his own prints. During his career, Adams worked to increase public acceptance of photography as a fine art. In 1940 he helped found the world's first museum collection of photographs at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. In 1946 at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco he established the first academic department to teach photography as a profession. Nature loverAdams was an ardent nature lover throughout his life. From 1936 he served as a director of the Sierra Club, an American organization for the conservation of natural resources. Adams published many collections of photographs that he took in the wilderness areas of the United States. The books are also pleas for the preservation of those regions. They include My Camera in the National Parks, This Is the American Earth, and Photographs of the Southwest. Last yearsIn 1980 Adams was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor. He died on April 22, 1984, in Carmel, California. |