Great Black and White Photographers II

Ansel Adams was a photographer and environmentalist, which explains his landscape photography. Ansel was born in San Francisco, California to Charles Adams and Olive Bray. His grandfather was a wealthy timber baron and his father was a businessman. When he was only four years old, he broke his nose from an aftershock earthquake and fire of 1906. The broken nose marked him forever. In 1907, there was a financial panic, his family lost everything.

Because of Ansel’s mark on his nose, he was made fun of at school. He had learning disabilities and did not perform well in school. He went to many schools and his father helped him, but none of it worked. He pretty much finished 8th grade and stopped school after that. One thing that he loved while growing up was nature. He would go on walks everyday.

Ansel was 12 years old and taught himself how to play piano and to read music. He intended on being a pianist as his profession, but he later decided on photography. He chose this because of his love of nature, especially the golden gate bridge area.

His parents provided him with a camera, the Kodak No.1 Box Brownie. In 1919 he joined the Sierra Club, as the “keeper”. He was there in the Yosemite Valley for four summers. He met Virginia Best in Yosemite. They later became husband and wife, and had two children.

Joining the Sierra Club was a huge part of his career. In the Sierra Club’s 1922 bulletin, his first published photographs and writings were featured in it. Every year the club had a hiking trip during the summer for one month. This is where Adams took many pictures.

In 1927, Adams took his first fully visualized photograph, Monolith, the Face of Half Dome. Once he met Albert M. Bender, he got more in depth with photography. Bender immediately started the publication of his portfolio. The support Adams got from Bender changed his life.  

Adams claimed that he was not influenced by other photographers, but in reality, he was. He still followed the romantic nineteenth century of American landscape photography. He was criticized for not putting anything that has to do with human-kind in his photos. He just wanted everyone to balance nature and everything humans do-a healthy medium.

Ansel Adams died from cardiovascular disease on April 24, 1984. He died in Monterey, California  at the age of 82. His photographs will forever be in history.