Ansel Adams

By: Erik Thorsheim

Biography

Born Ansel Easton Adams

Feb 20, 1902

San Francisco, California

Died April 22, 1984 (Monterey Ca.)

Married to Virginia Rose Best

Early Life

Upper class only child

Remembers great San Fran earthquake 1906

Unhealthy childhood: hyperactive, frequently sick

Early interest in natural world

At 12, was pulled out of school, homeschooled

Close to father, distant from mother

Played piano: it offered structure and discipline to his life

Early Photo Career

Loved Yosemite National Park

First visited it with his family in 1916

Was apprentice of a San Francisco photo finisher

Joined Sierra Club at age 17

First published photo was 1921 of Yosemite.

Style & Period

Best known for black and white

Landscape photography of west

Advocate for environmental awareness

Secured photography as dominant art form

Artistic Influences

Said he wasn’t directly influenced by anyone

BUT! Worked in the style of…Thomas ColeFrederic Church Albert BierstadtCarlton WatkinsEadweard Muybridge

Impact on Photography

Co-founded “Group f/64” with Edward Weston, Van Dyke, and Cunningham.

Pioneered zone system with Fred Archer (giving better control over finished photos)

Advocated previsualization (imagine image and goals)

Achievements

Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom

The Tetons and the Snake River was selected for Voyager Golden Record

Doctorate of arts from Harvard and Yale

California Hall of Fame member

Artist Work

My Influences

References

Adams, Ansel, Andrea Gray. Stillman, and William A. Turnage. Our National Parks. Boston: Little, Brown, 1992. Print.

Adams, Ansel, Ansel Adams, Robert Adams, Adam D. Weinberg, Allison N. Kemmerer, and John R. Stilgoe. Reinventing the West: The Photographs of Ansel Adams and Robert Adams. Andover, MA: Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, 2001. Print.

Alinder, Mary Street. Ansel Adams: A Biography. New York: H. Holt, 1996. Print.