Ansel Adams

In the early 1920s, while on a trip to Yosemite National Park, Ansel Adams met Virginia Best, whose father owned the Best’s Studio in the Park. They got married in the same studio in 1928. They had two children, Michael born in 1933 and Anne born in 1935.

On April 22, 1984, Adams died from cardiovascular disease at the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula in Monterey, California. He was then 82 years old. He was survived his wife, two children and five grandchildren.

In 1985, the Minarets Wilderness in the Inyo National Forest was renamed as Ansel Adams Wilderness. Moreover, an 11,760-foot high peak, located within the Wilderness was named Mount Ansel Adams.

Ansel Easton Adams was born on February 20, 1902 in San Francisco. He was the only son of Charles Hitchcock Adams and Olive Bray Adams. Initially Charles was involved with running of the lumber trading business established by his father. Later he set up an insurance agency and a chemical factory.

Ansel enjoyed a close bond with his father, who taught him to lead a modest life with equal responsibility to man and nature. Initially, they lived in the Western Addition neighborhood in San Francisco.

In 1906, while they were still living there, a devastating earthquake shook the city. Four-year-old Ansel was thrust against a wall in an aftershock and broke his nose. It could not be repaired and he lived with a crooked nose all his life.

In 1907, the family moved to a new residence, from where one could see the Golden Gate and the Marin Headlands. Little Ansel, who was sickly and hyperactive, did not have many friends, but the landscape around his home kept him occupied.

When he became a little older, he was enrolled into a number of public and private schools. Unable to adjust, he was dismissed from each of them. In 1914, as he turned twelve, his father took him out of school to be educated at home.

It was during this visit that Ansel Adams took his first shot with his new Kodak Brownie Box camera. It highly fascinated him. In 1917, he returned alone to the National Park; this time equipped with a better camera and tripod. The visit intensified his interest in photography.

On his return, he began to work part time for a San Francisco photo finisher just to learn the basics of darkroom technique. He also began reading photography magazines, attending camera clubs as well as photography exhibitions.

Eventually, he started exploring the Sierra Nevada mountain range with an amateur ornithologist. Through this, he began to develop the skill necessary for photographing under difficult weather conditions.

In 1919, he joined the Sierra Club, an organization devoted for protecting the wilderness of the Sierra Nevada. Thereafter from 1920 to 1924, he worked as the summer caretaker of its visitor center in Yosemite Valley. He also took part in the club’s high altitude treks.

In 1922, he had his first photograph published in the club’s bulletin. While it showed careful composition, music still remained his main focus. Therefore, while he spent the summer months hiking and photographing in the Sierra Nevada, the rest of the year was spent in improving his piano techniques.

From the late 1920s, Ansel Adams started having doubts about his musical acumen and decided to take up photography as his career option. In 1927, he produced his first portfolio, titled ‘Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras’.

Containing 18 silver gelatin photographic prints, the portfolio was an instant hit. He not only earned $3900 from it, but also started getting commercial assignments. Concurrently, he continued to improve his techniques and in 1928 he had his first one-man exhibition at the club’s San Francisco headquarters.

In the spring of 1929, Adams traveled to Mexico, staying there for two months. The shots he took there were published in a book form titled ‘Taos Pueblo’. Published in 1930, it had text written by nature writer Mary Hunter Austin and marked his transition from pictorial style to sharp-focused images.

In 1931, Adams had his first solo exhibition at Smithsonian Institution, which earned fantastic reviews from the ‘Washington Post.’ In the following year, he had a group show with Imogen Cunningham and Edward Henry Weston at the M. H. de Young Museum. The success of the show prompted them to form Group f/64.

In 1933, Adams opened the Ansel Adams Gallery for the Arts in San Francisco. Concurrently, he continued to visit Sierra Nevada, taking photos, among which, ‘Clearing Winter Storm’ (1935) being one of his most well-known works.