Ansel Adams and How He Mastered Photography With His Relationship With the Environment

'When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.' --Ansel Adams

Family History

Ansel Adams (b. Feb. 20, 1902, d. Apr. 22, 1984) was born in San Francisco, California. His parents were Charles Hitchcock and Olive Bray Adams. Interestingly, he only received an eighth-grade education deciding to reach instead for those subjects that drove him to learn. Adam’s interest in music was accompanied with piano lessons. His interest in the artistic nature of the environment was increased with experiencing photography. Adams took his first photographs at Yosemite National Park in 1916 (age 14) and leaning in the direction of this passion, he was employed at a firm as a photo technician where his knowledge was increased on photography.

In his 20s, Adams spent a good deal of time exploring the area of the park on foot and taking photographs. It was here where he also met his wife, Virginia Best, whom he married in 1928. They had two children.

The photographer

Adams is best known for his black and white photographs of landscapes. He had a gift for capturing the most beautiful images depicting nature's incredible beauty. This gift could take your mind to a place of serenity and the very heart of nature.

There is simplicity lifted in his black and white images that offers no obstruction across the details shown in his photographs and so much so that the audience, too, embraces the statement his eye for beauty gives us. With Adams' due diligence throughout the 1930s, he lifted his craft inside publications wherein he would describe the value of his carefulness with his presentations of capturing the environment on film.

The conservationist

When Adams was 17, he joined the Sierra Club, an organization focused on preserving the Sierra, Nevada wilderness and he would join this organization working at its office in Yosemite Park. This would be his window of opportunity to be swallowed by what would become his lifelong passion of preserving untouched beauty in the environment and always appreciating its value.

Ten years later, Ansel would become one of the club's official photographers and served as the club's acting president from 1936 through 1970.

Ansel moved to Yosemite Valley in 1937 to be in the soul of nature to not only enhance his craft but to also work on publications. One of his mentors was photographer, Paul Strand, where they collaborated in New Mexico.

Throughout the 1930s, Ansel was instrumental in lobbying Congress to create Kings Canyon National Park which the Sierra Club held a strong interest. President Franklin Roosevelt was one who was persuaded on the idea and eventually the park was named in 1940.

Ansel received the Interior Department's most prestigious civilian recognition when he was awarded the Conservation Service Award in 1968. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980. Due to Ansel's passions and efforts, a lot of wilderness areas have been preserved. His fan base also values his artistic representation of nature reminding us of the significance of uplifting the beauty that rests in an environment that has been untouched.

I have always enjoyed Ansel Adams' work. Black and white images are so much more appealing to me. They are emotionally effective and the images are sometimes so impactful for the viewer. I turn my own photographs of children from color to black and white because there is a meaningful nature expressed in the latter.