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Favorite Photographer: Ansel Adams

          Ansel Adams was a very famous American photographer who was born in San Francisco on February 20, 1902. At the age of four, he broke his nose after falling on the ground due to an aftershock of an earthquake, distinctly marking him permanently. He had always had a problem fitting in at school due to his shyness, bad behavior, and difficulty with education, which caused him to move to various schools. After a while his parents decided to educate him from home where he had private tutors and family members educate him. He only received an eighth grade education.

         When he was twelve he taught himself to read music and play the piano. This became an early passion of his. Soon he started to take lessons and the piano became his focus. Although he did not decide to pursue music as a career, it brought a sense calmness to Ansel’s somewhat frustrating childhood.

           Another leisure activity for him was always taking walks through the wilderness. Even at a young age Ansel Adams enjoyed looking at and exploring nature. This obviously sparked his interest in what type of photography he liked. He took a trip up to Yosemite National Park with his family in 1916 and it inspired his interest in photography and there he took what was his first amateur photos. Adams was photographer who had many iconic pictures that are still appreciated today. Most of his photographs were taken of the American west. His photographs have been put on calendars, posters, books, and the internet.

          In 1919 he joined the Sierra Club, an environmental organization that wants people to “To explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of earth.” The Sierra Club was one of the main factors of Ansel Adams’ early success in photography. He had his first one man exhibition at their headquarters and many photographs and writings were shown on the clubs 1922 Bulletin. Later on in his career he had many photos displayed in many galleries and museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The main reasons why I chose Ansel Adams as my photographer to write about is because I love taking pictures of nature and landscapes and the pictures that he takes are very interesting and inspiring to me. Many of his photos are just breathtaking and impossible not to stare at. He captures the beauty of landscapes in such a simple but beautiful way, which I really like.

         Not only do I appreciate his good photography but I also admire Ansel Adams as a person. He was an environmentalist activist that encouraged people to preserve and appreciate the wilderness. Although I think it’s important to protect the environment, I’m not a huge environmentalist. Still, I admire that Ansel Adams’ passion for nature wasn’t only shown through his photography and that it was not hard to tell how much he genuinely appreciated and enjoyed the wilderness. Unfortunately, he died at the age of 82 in Monterey, California from cardiovascular disease on April 22, 1984. Ansel Adams is still remembered today for his beautiful and iconic black and white landscape images of the American West.



Recreation Photos:

Ansel Adams photos

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