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Ansel Adams Research Paper

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Ansel Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was a photographer and environmentalist born in San Francisco, California. He was the only child and son of Charles Hitchcock Adams, a businessman, and Olive Bray. When he was four years old, the aftershock of the great earthquake of 1906 threw him to the ground and badly broke his nose that marked him for the rest of his life. In 1907, the family fortune collapsed in a financial panic and his father spent the rest of his life trying to recover. His parents and the presence of his mother’s sister created an environment that was Victorian. Intelligent, timid, and his nose injury, caused Adams to have trouble in school. This led him to be tutored at home by his father and aunt and in the end completed …show more content…

Later in life, he noticed a possibility of being hyperactive and dyslexic. As a result of his unique childhood, he became fond of and inspired by nature as he loved long walks and hiking. At the age of twelve, Adams taught himself how to play the piano and read music. Then, he continued to study music for the next couple of years and the piano was his passion but ultimately gave up music for photography. In 1916, he went to Yosemite National Park, where he began exploring with photography. He eventually learned darkroom techniques and went to photography and art exhibits. In 1919, Adams joined the Sierra Club where he met his wife, Virginia Best, in Yosemite and later on had two children. The Sierra Club was significant to his early success as a photographer. His first photographs were published in the club’s 1922 Bulletin. In 1927, his professional breakthrough was the publication of his first portfolio, Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras. The portfolio was a success that gave him many commercial projects. In 1928, he had his first exhibition at the club’s San Francisco headquarters. Between 1929 and 1942, Adams’ work and …show more content…

Other photographers like Weston and Strand would often consult Adams for technical advice. He served as a photographic advisor to Polaroid and Hasselblad. He developed the famous and complex “zone system” of controlling exposure and development, allowing photographers to creatively visualize an image and create a photograph that matched their visualization. He published the most influential books ever written on the subject. Adams’s energy and capacity for work was astonishing. In his life, there were no such things as vacations, holidays, or Sundays. Adams described himself as a photographer, lecturer and writer. He would constantly travel the country in search of the natural beauty he admired and photographed. Adams felt a strong commitment to encourage photography as a fine art and played a vital role in the creation of the first museum department of photography, at the Museum of Modern Art in New

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