Photographer Ansel Adams

Trained as a pianist, Adams divided his time between music and photography until 1930. That was when he was first impressed by the work of photographer Paul Strand, an American whose work emphasized beauty of tone and sharp detail. Adams then decided to concentrate fully on photography. He adopted the approach of Strand, a style called "straight photography." In 1932 he had his first solo show in a major museum and, with Imogen Cunningham, Edward Weston, Willard Van Dyke, and others, founded the influential Group F/64. This was an association of photographers who used large cameras and small apertures to capture the infinite variety of nature's light and textures. Adams held daguerreotypes and the landscapes of the nineteenth century photographers Timothy H. O'Sullivan and William Henry Jackson for the crisp brilliance of their work. Adams would become one of the major technicians in th

. . .
tricky camera angles and tried instead to render each scene as clearly and accurately as possible. His technique may have been influenced by his early training: As a youth he studied to be a concert pianist, and now, with his camera, he has a musician's instinct for precise technique. But technique, in photography as in music, is only a tool for conveying emotion, Adams asserts. 'A great photograph,' he says, 'is a full expression of what one feels.' Adams and his photographs were indeed instrumental in the creation of a national park, Kings Canyon in the Sierra Nevada in California. In 1936 the Sierra Club enlisted Ansel Adams in the cause of protecting this region. He had been photographing the high reaches of the Sierra Nevada for over a decade. He was sent to Washington to lobby for the Kings Canyon bill, and he took his portfolio to conservation societies in New York to enlist their support. The bill failed at that time, but it was proposed again in 1938. In that year Adams published his book The Sierra Nevada and the John Muir Trail, which included photographs of the canyon. The book became a lobbying tool, and the bill finally passed in 1940, with the acknowledgment that Adams's book had been instrumental in br
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
National Park, Manzanar Adams, Yosemite Valley, Ansel Adams', Hernandez Mexico, Grand Canyon, Henry Jackson, Muir Trail, San Francisco, Prints Sierras, ansel adams, fine art, sierra nevada, photographs southwest, adams manzanar, born free equal, nature photography, adams photographs, john szarkowski, people manzanar, born free,
Approximate Word count = 1824
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Photographer Ansel Adams