Biography Of Ansel Adams Essay, Research Paper

Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams was born in on February 20, 1902 into a wealthy San Francisco family. As a child Ansel practiced to be a concert pianist. However in 1915 things began to change. At the age of 13 Ansel was taken out of school and his father bought him a season pass to the Panama-Pacific Exposition, which he visited almost every day. In 1916 Ansel took his first trip to Yosemite National Park. With a camera given to him by his father he took his first pictures which sparked his interest in photography.

Ansel Adams began taking pictures in the soft focus style, which was the norm of his day, until he encountered Paul Strand. Strand practiced in sharp focus photography. This sharp focus has since become a trademark of Adams.

Another trademark of Adams is the Zone System. This system was his greatest technical contribution to the art of photography. Through this system Adams worked at perfecting each stage of the picture taking process. Adams goal was to create technically flawless prints in order to capture the mood of the environment in which he took the picture. Using this method the same photograph taken by two different people would result in two different pictures as would a picture taken at different times by the same photographer. The zone system divided the gradations of light in a scene into ten zones from black to white. This allowed him to picture the contrast more efficiently and thus take technically superior pictures.

Ansel Adams was a conservationist as well as a photographer. He served as an official photographer for the Sierra Club, an environmental association dedicated to the preservation of American wilderness. Adams used his photographs to help spread his love for the wilderness.

Adams Pictures Cathedral Peak and Lake and Minarets, Evening Clouds are technically beautiful pictures. Both have wonderful contrast and sharp focus. These pictures convey a peaceful, solitary, natural mood. This mood indicates that this is the way Adams wishes these places to remain. The lack of people in these photographs and the majority of Adams other photographs also sends a message that the photographed places should remain with few people. That is not to say that people should be restricted form accessing these areas. Adams simply wanted the areas he photographed free from the negative effects of humans who are ruining so many beautiful places in this small world.

Adams photograph of a moonrise over Hernandez, New Mexico, is an amazing picture. The contrast of the black and white is perfect and the contrast of Civilization with the New Mexico wilderness tells more of Ansel Adams Philosophy. The fact that the town fits in so perfectly with the wilderness in the picture seems to say that civilization and wilderness can coexist. However, the town in the picture is tiny when compared to most cities. The message this sends is that, Adams wants the amount of civilization in the wilderness to stay small.

I admire Ansel Adams for his captivating photographs and his ambitions to help preserve our diminishing wilderness. I have the same fascination with mountains, cliffs and other natural landforms as Ansel Adams. Having been to Yosemite National Park where Adams took many of his most famous pictures increases my interest in his photography. Upon visiting Yosemite and a Gallery of his photographs there I became fascinated by his work and started attempting to take pictures in the same manner as he did. I hope to be able to help in the preservation of our countries wilderness if even but a fraction as much as Adams did.

Ansel Adams was highly regarded by all in his time. He made acquaintance with Gerald Ford, the president of the United States at the time, and worked with him to help preserve the environment. With the encouragement from Adams, Ford passed an act to put 1.5 billion dollars into the acquisition of new land which doubled the countries acreage of national parks, recreation areas and wildlife sanctuaries.

Sixteen years ago the world lost one of the most influential photographers and preservationists ever. In 1984 Ansel Adams died of heart failure aggravated by cancer. In the same year the United States Congress established the Ansel Adams Wilderness Area, between Yosemite National Park and John Muir Wilderness Area. In 1985 Mt. Ansel Adams was named for him and in 1989 the Ansel Adams Center in San Francisco opened to display his works and those of other great photographers. Ansel Adams Left his mark in Photography and in Preservation. His name has become a synonym for photographs of breathtaking landscapes everywhere.