Ansel Adams, Photographer and Environmentalist

Ansel Adams was born in San Francisco in the early years of the 20th century. Although his parents were wealthy, the family lost their financial fortune in a panic in 1907, and his father spent the rest of his life catching up. His mother first-time mother was preoccupied with her lost fortune, leaving an excellent impression on young Ansell. . And his father nourished him and moved him.

He had trouble at school, for various reasons. His nose was deformed, the result of being broken by the earthquake and fire of 1906. A natural aversion and a certain intensity of character increased the problems he was experiencing. It is possible that he was dyslexic. Eventually, his parents began to support him at home, and he earned a “legitimate diploma” equivalent to the rough eighth grade to complete. From the diversity of his youth he undoubtedly grew up to be highly esteemed by nature.

In the 12th century, Adams taught himself how to read music and play the piano, singer. Soon he was taking lessons, and for the next twelve years the piano became Adams’ first occupation. By the 1920s, he was focused on his music career. Despite his eventual musical career, music provided structure and discipline to what was otherwise an erratic childhood. Additionally, the careful training and skill of the musician brought his writings into photography and art.

His love of nature was nurtured in the shadow of the Golden Gate bridge where he grew up; It was formed by the Sierra Nevada. He stayed there every year from 1916 until he died. He joined the Sierra Club in 1919, which was vital to the photographer’s early success. His published photographs first appear in Sierra Club publications. In the late 1920s, Adams began to realize that he would have more value as a tour than a concert musician. By 1934, he was established as both artist and defender of Yosemite. That year he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Sierra Club, a position he held for 37 years. During his tenure, the Club merged into a powerful national organization that lobbied to create national parks and protect the environment. about destructive development projects.

He was a compulsive communicator. He traveled the country in search of natural beauty tips which he loved and needed by his audience. When the Museum of Modern Art opened the first photography museum, Adams played an essential role. Through his work with the museum, some of the most intimate relationships of Adams’s life were formed, including an association with Nancy Newhall. Newhall and Adams came together to write several books, in which this American Land i> which helped launch the environmental movement with Rachel Carson Silent Spring.

Ansel Adams was an avid environmental activist. He wrote dozens of letters, addressed to dozens of people, but his real authority came from his results. The pictures he took became symbols of America’s wilderness. His images gave the viewer a desolate equivalent of emotion, often as powerful, if not more powerful, than the object itself. The desert and the sea were his passions, but the result was that he should pursue his passions. The places Adams photographed are precisely the places that have been saved for all time.

 

Sources:

Turnage, William A. “Ansel Adams, Photographer.” Ansel Adams Gallery, 2011. 7/20/11.

“The History of Ansel Adams.” Sierra Club, 2011. 7/20/11.

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