Ansel Adams

Biography

Ansel Adams is best known as a photographer specialising in black and white photographs of the American West and Yosemite National Park. He was born on 20th February 1902 in San Francisco, California. Adams grew up in a house set amid the sand dunes of the Golden Gate Bridge, and at the age of 4 an aftershock of the great earthquake and fire of 1906 threw Adams to the ground resulting in a broken nose which was never repaired, and resulted in him being distinctly marked for life.

Adams had an interesting and challenging childhood finding it very difficult to concentrate and to fit in at school. On reflection in later life, Adams thought he may have been diagnosed as hyperactive and he may have suffered from dyslexia. At the age of twelve Adams taught himself how to play the piano and this was to be his main focus up until the age of eighteen.

During these solitary childhood years Adams’s love of nature grew. He also developed a passion for Yosemite National Park and he spent a substantial amount of time there every year. It was here that he started to use the Kodak No 1 Box Brownie that his parents gave him as a gift. From then on photography was his passion and through various collaborations over the years after joining the Sierra club in 1919, Adams talent as a photographer went from strength to strength.

Adams technical mastery became the stuff of legend, and he liked to use large format view cameras which were difficult to use because of their weight, size, film cost and set up time. The resulting high resolution ensured sharpness in the finished images and was well worth the effort. Adams also developed the 'zone system', which was a way to determine proper exposure and adjust the contrast of the final print. This gave a clarity and depth which characterized his photographs.

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