Ansel Adams – bright photographer
Ansel Adams was an American conservationist and photographer famous for his black-and-white photographs of nature and the American landscape. He was among the first people to promote photography as an art form. Adams was very fond of nature.
Ansel Easton Adams was born on February 20, 1902 in San Francisco, California. His father was a successful businessman. In his childhood Adams wanted to become a pianist. Passion for music was quite serious, but later he became acquainted with the works of photographer Paul Strand and became interested in photography. Then Adams for a long time could not choose between his two passions. In 1916 he made his first amateurish photos at Yosemite National Park.
In 1919 he joined the Sierra Club and worked as a caretaker. From 1936 to 1970, Adams was president of the Sierra Club.
At first photography was only a hobby for him. In 1927 he published his first collection of photographs – Sierra Nevada: The John Muir Trail.
His pictures played a major role in the late 1930s in establishing Kings Canyon National Park.
In 1937 Adams moved to Yosemite Valley.
In 1940 he helped found the world’s first museum collection of photographs at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
During the Second World War, Adams worked as a photographer at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the United States. During this period he created a photo essay, exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, and later published under the title Born Free and Equal: The Story of loyal Japanese-Americans.
In 1946 he established the first academic department of photography at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco. In 1952, Ansel helped found the influential photo magazine Aperture.
During his life, Adams became the three time winner of Solomon Guggenheim community. In 1966 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In 1980 Adams was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest nonmilitary honor in the United States.
Ansel Adams died on April 22, 1984, in Carmel, California.
On August 20, 2007, Adams was posthumously named for induction to the California Hall of Fame.
His photographs are endlessly in reproduction for calendars and posters, making his images instantaneously recognizable.
Adams is also the author of several books, including the trilogy The Camera, The Negative, The Print, and one of the founders of the group f/64 photographers.