Born in San Francisco in 1902, Adams would support himself as a pianist and piano teacher until 1930, but during the ‘20s he also served as a guide and custodian in Yosemite, leading expeditions into the wilderness and taking photographs of the scenery.
As his dedication to Yosemite grew, so did his dedication to photography and, in 1927, he produced what he called his ‘first true visualisation’: Monolith, The Face of Half Dome (1927), an image ‘not [of] the way the subject appeared in reality but how it felt to me.’ With the support of Albert Bender, San Francisco’s great patron of the arts, he was able to produce his first portfolio, Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras (1927), and his first book, Taos Pueblo (1930).
Initially Adams’ work was influenced by the Pictorialist tradition of late 19th-century photography. But by 1930, his friendship with the great American photographer Paul Strand provoked Adams to move away from Pictorialism’s emphasis on darkroom manipulation. He began experimenting with the purity of ‘straight’ photography and the creative possibilities of the camera itself. In 1932, he and photographer Edward Weston founded the important ‘straight’ photography Group f/64, and the next year he met Albert Stieglitz who, in 1936, would exhibit Adams’ work at his New York gallery.
A great technical innovator, Adams wrote his first manual, Making a Photograph, in 1935. Although commissions for the likes of Time, Kodak or Zeiss often interrupted his work, Adams produced seminal images of the American landscape such as The Tetons and the Snake River (1942) and Dawn, Autumn Forest (1948). Adams died in 1984.
ANSEL ADAMS (1902–1984)
Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941
ANSEL ADAMS (1902–1984)
Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941
Ansel Adams (1902–1984)
Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park, California, 1938
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Winter Sunrise, Sierra Nevada from Lone Pine, California, 1941
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite Valley, c. 1939
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite Valley, 1944
Ansel Adams (1902–1984)
Aspens, Northern New Mexico, 1958
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Aspens, Northern New Mexico, 1958
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Clouds, Yosemite Valley, 1945
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Grand Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, 1942
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Bridal Veil Fall, Yosemite Valley, 1927
ANSEL ADAMS (1902–1984)
Aspens, Northern New Mexico, 1958
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Clearing Storm, Sonoma County Hills, 1951
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Aspens, Northern New Mexico, 1958
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Tenaya Creek, Dogwood, Rain, Yosemite Valley, 1948
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Lake Precipice, 'Frozen Lake and Cliffs', Kaweah Gap, Sierra Nevada, 1932
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Surf Sequence, A-E, 1940
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Aspens, Northern New Mexico, 1958
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Ansel Adams: Portfolio VII
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Tenaya Lake, Yosemite National Park, California, 1946
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Portfolio Three: Yosemite Valley; Sixteen Original Prints by Ansel Adams
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Vernal Fall, Yosemite Valley, 1948
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Half Dome, Merced River, Winter, Yosemite Valley, California, 1938
Ansel Adams (1902–1984)
Church, Sunset, Rear, Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, c. 1948
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Portfolio Three: Yosemite Valley; Sixteen Original Prints by Ansel Adams
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Clouds and Hills, Northern California, 1940s
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Portfolio Three: Yosemite Valley
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Portfolio Four: What Majestic Word, In Memory of Russell Varian
ANSEL ADAMS (1902–1984)
Moon and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California, 1960
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Aspens, Northern New Mexico, 1958
ANSEL ADAMS (1902–1984)
Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park, California, 1938
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
El Capitan, Merced River, Yosemite Valley, 1948
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras
ANSEL ADAMS (1902–1984)
Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941
ANSEL ADAMS (1902–1984)
Winter Sunrise, Sierra Nevada, from Lone Pine, California, 1944
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941
ANSEL ADAMS (1902–1984)
Maroon Bells, near Aspen, Colorado, 1951
Ansel Adams (1902–1984)
Stream, Sea, Clouds, Rodeo Lagoon, Marin County, 1962
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Clearing Winter Storm, c. 1944
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
The Teton Range and the Snake River, 1942
ANSEL ADAMS (1902–1984)
Portfolio Three: Yosemite Valley; Sixteen Original Prints by Ansel Adams
ANSEL ADAMS (1902–1984)
The Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, 1942
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Ansel Adams: Portfolio VII
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Clouds, Yosemite Valley, 1945
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Forest, Castle Rock State Park, California, 1962
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Portfolio One: Twelve Photographic Prints by Ansel Adams
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Dogwood, Yosemite Valley, California, 1938
ANSEL ADAMS (1902-1984)
Thunderstorm, Yosemite Valley, 1945
ANSEL ADAMS (1902–1984)
Portfolio IV, What Majestic Word: In Memory of Russell Varian, 1963
ANSEL ADAMS (1902–1984)
Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941