Why Is Ansel Adams Important

Contributions he made to photography were the creation of a dry plate formula and a machine for preparing those plates. The innovation of this was that it made photography much easier for professionals and was one of the first steps he took to make photography accessible to many. This type of plate would be used many photographers later. George

Not simply a great photographer and ethnographer but a man with enough compassion and foresight to recognize that here was a once proud and free people whose traditions and culture were quickly disappearing via assimilation into a conquering white man’s society. His passion and drive to capture those traditions is reflected in this quote:

As Adams pursued his work in both art and conservation the various lines of his life were beginning to converge revealing both the unity and the disjunction of his ideas. 137 His impact was felt on both spheres of influence. Using modern techniques of mass communications, Adams brought a vision of idealized wilderness to a broad audience and linked the environmental movement with nationalism and a romantic view of nature. The sustained popularity of his photographs illuminates a continuing public fascination with the wilderness landscape as both a place of beauty and a symbol of national identity and ideals. (Pacific 42) Most leaders within the conservation movement continued to share his ideal assuming that economic growth and wilderness

From a young age he showed uncommon interest in wilderness and the outdoors and grew into one of the personalities most responsible for defining what American wilderness means. In his twenties, Ansel demonstrated incredible mastery of the young art form of photography. Through his friendships and collaboration with other artists and environmentalists and through his many prestigious art shows and published collections he gained fame. He used his fame, strong personal voice and persuasive activism for environmental conservation causes such as ... and for environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society. In particular, Ansel Adams was inspired and captivated by Yosemite at a young age and found the mountains to be his calling. His passion to preserve the park he experienced as a young boy fueled his efforts.

Ansel Adams (1902-1984) was a native of San Francisco. Throughout his childhood days, he often played in the sand dunes outside the Golden Gate. This is where he learned to appreciate nature, and it inspired him to use nature as his scenes for his photographs. He is known for preserving wilderness. He is viewed as an environmental legend and an image of the American West, particularly of Yosemite National Park. His first visit to Yosemite was in 1916.

"The splendor of Yosemite burst upon us and it was glorious... One wonder after another descended upon us... There was light everywhere... A new era began for me" (“American Experience | Ansel Adams | People & Events”). In year of 1916, he took his first trip to Yosemite National Park with his family. There, he saw the incredible views of the park, views he would continuously see throughout his life. His passion, not only for photography, but for nature surfaced during this first trip to Yosemite in California. Nobody knew that this sudden passion would affect the environment the way it did. Ansel Adams used his photography in order to help national parks gain popularity, as well as to help environmental groups. As one can see, Ansel Adams was an extremely influential photographer and environmentalist, because of his dedication to preserving nature, his support to the Sierra Club, and his famous black and white photography.

He grew up in a sad home life, having parents who were not happy due to hard times. This made him a nervous child who had difficulty having relationships with anyone. His father knew he could not keep him in a typical school due to the amount of energy he had and how odd he was. His father rather got him a tutor for certain subjects and allowed him to roam and learn on his own. Also, he got him a year’s pass to the World’s Fair where Ansel was able to learn so much. He was able to pick up on piano so quick and commit his time into it.

Indeed other photographers are important for their photographs of land and nature. Notably, Adams is the most prolific contributor and documenter of the land, at least, that is, in America. It is, after all, Ansel Adams’s studio, home and legacy. Although Adams did focus on critically exposing social problems in society and remedy them, he was influential in shaping conservation legislation for open places and spaces in America. While the 1950s was not a time to “go green,” Adams understood then, just as photographers do now words are not enough.

A great influence on Ansel’s choice was Paul Strand, a brilliant photographer, and by then a new friend of Ansel. The wonderful work of Strand had a decisive effect on Ansel’s choice of careers; he was to become a professional photographer. a short wile after, he joined many other brilliant photographers, the likes of Edward Weston, Jon Paul Edwards, Willard Van Dyke and man others to form the “f/64”, a group dedicated to photography that looks like photography, not like an imitation of another art form.

Spending much of his time alone, Ansel taught himself to play the piano and read music, one of his earliest passions. Later in life, he found his solace in nature, collecting bugs and visiting the sand dunes not far from the Golden Gate Bridge.

For fun, Harry played golf regularly and he played it well. What he liked about golf was the challenge it had while in the game. By 1938, Harry stopped playing golf and began to pursue photography. At the time he had bought his very first camera, he didn’t know much about photography and taking pictures. Later on it would be the famous photographer, Ansel Adams, who would pave the way for Harry’s amazing photographs. It was when Ansel Adams came to Detroit for a workshop, all of his photographs and the passion they portrayed caught

Ansel Adams is a famous American photographer. He is well known for capturing images of the American West. Ansel was born in San Francisco, California on February 20, 1902. As a toddler Ansel was in “the great earthquake and fire of 1906” (Turnage). This caused him to break his nose and kept him a lasting mark all through his life. With having a broken nose and being shy while in school years Ansel was not successful with fitting in. But, “his father and aunt tutored him at home” (Turnage) helping him obtain a diploma from a private school. Growing up he lived “in a “house set amid the sand dunes of the Golden Gate” (Turnage).

In 1916 Ansel Adams was a photographer who used his work to promote conservation of the wild around the area. He took a trip to Yosemite National Park where he saw more than what lay in the national park, when he looked through the lense he was fascinated. He continued to tay photos of the nature that lay beneath him in Yosemite. Later Adams was on a roll and he then began to learn darkroom techniques. He also read many photography magazines. Ansel Adams also went to photography meetings and he would go to art exhibits.

He was criticized for his work during the Great Depression. At the time photography was being used to depict what was going on in the world. However, Ansel continued to photograph beautiful scenery and landscapes. The social issues that he wanted to document were the environment, which became one of the greatest social human issues of the twentieth century. Though Ansel was active in politics and what was going on, he used his photography to express how he felt and have a purpose. He wanted people to understand, that the world exits within this larger world. In 1936 he wanted to become an activist, but with his art of photography. He decided to join and be on the board of directors of the Sierra Club (American

Ansel Adams a photographer and environmentalist, was born on February 20, 1902 in San Francisco, California, the son of Charles Hitchcock Adams, a businessman, and Olive Bray. He was the grandson of a wealthy timber baron. An only child, Adams was born when his mother was forty. His relatively elderly parents, affluent family history, and the presence of his mother’s maiden sister and aged father all combined to create an environment that was both socially and emotionally conservative. Adams’s mother spent much of her time brooding and fretting over her husband’s inability to restore the Adams fortune, leaving an ambivalent imprint on her son. Charles Adams, on the other hand, deeply and patiently influenced, encouraged, and supported his son.