To my recollection, I have never once heard of any other landscape photographer on Earth that hasn’t heard of Ansel Easton Adams and if there is, I am not certain what rock they’ve been living under over the last century. Proclaimed by many as the pioneer of landscape photography, his work has spanned several decades and, in many ways, he created the very beginnings of the modern digital darkroom that we know of today. Ansel would later become the most celebrated landscape photographer of our generation, a passionate environmentalist whose black and white landscapes of the American West are believed to be amongst the finest ever created. There are few individuals linked to the subject of taking photographs whose voice carries as much weight as that of Ansel Adams, and few whom have provided such a wealth of wisdom and inspiration to future generations of photographers to follow.
Ansel Adams came from a humble upbringing, born in 1902 in San Francisco. Ansel was given his first camera at the age of twelve while visiting Yosemite National Park with his family. From this point on you could say, he was hooked! Ansel published his first photographic artworks in 1921 and thus began his journey into being one of the most well-known landscape photographers of our time.
It wasn’t until the late 1920s, that Ansel would begin to hone his style and become an established photographic artist. Ansel adamantly Rejected tradition popular during his time, he instead developed his own style, often deviating from what was considered to be accepted practice. Ansel was among the first to utilize techniques such as dodge and burning as well as negative splicing. In his time, Ansel became notoriously famed for his most iconic works in places such as Yosemite Valley.
Ansel Adams was a fierce advocate of the natural world and procured a fond love of preserving the earth that was elemental in inspiring his photography.
Ansel Adams passed away in 1984 and his ashes were placed on the summit of Mount Ansel Adams in California’s Ansel Adams Wilderness Area. A frequently visited mountain in Sierra Nevada range named after him in 1964.
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LOCATIONS THAT ANSEL ADAMS PHOTOGRAPHED
Much of Ansel’s black and white nature photography took place in the very well known, captivating and iconic scenes of national parks in the American West. Ansel was attracted to the natural beauty of these places like none other.
Yosemite National Park was hands down one of Ansel’s most famous photography locations. It is here where he shot some of his most iconic photographs such as “Moon Over Half Dome”. Ansel returned here to Yosemite many times over the years as it was one of his favorite locations to shoot. He was once quoted stating that “We must remember that a photograph can hold just as much as we put into it, and no one has ever approached the full possibilities of the medium.”
Ansel Adams photographed many other national parks throughout his life. Places such as the Grand Teton National Park, Glacier National Park, Sequoia National Park and other renowned locations such as New Mexico, Monument Valley and San Francisco, where he grew up.
Many of his works have encouraged others to create their own vision of what photography means to them in the very same way that Ansel searched within himself to show off the natural beauty of the world. From this single man, the invention of modern-day photography truly took foot.
Interestingly enough, over the years there have been many who have come to look at Ansel’s work as the end all of a photographic relationship as it pertains to creativity and art. I believe that should Ansel have had access to photoshop and lightroom, he would have had a ball with it! When asked about the relationships in light of God’s creation, he was quoted saying “Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships.” To this day I can recall stories my Mother Ruth Mayer would tell me about her early work with Ansel, as apparently when I was a younger boy than I am able to recall Ansel Adams would frequent my Moms studio and home along with other greats of her time such as Wyland, James Coleman and Thomas Kincaid to name a few.
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My home growing up was in all sense of the word, a creator’s paradise! Eclectic and full of banter, creative visionaries of our time busy with their artistic endeavors. It wasn’t a big deal back then, as it was just friendships, conversation and ideas fueled with a desire to show the world their beautiful creations. Back in those days my Mom spent much of her time publishing new and emerging artists works. During those humble and formative beginnings, Mom was simply the best when it came to serigraphy and stone lithography, she often printed all of her own limited-edition artworks, not to mention she was already an honored American Master Artist herself! Being that the community was so small, back then it wasn’t uncommon for her to help other artists print and publish their artworks. Fast forwarding all of this to today’s modern-day perspective, we hang on to each and every word as if gospel to dispel fact from fiction, reality from metaphor. In reality, as Mom would say, Ansel was a simple man with a complex mind and unending wisdoms about our relationship with the earth and our own creation. While I do not have any interactions with Ansel myself, I sure wish that I had the opportunity to convene with him now in this place and time! What an incredible and amazing time it would be to conversate with one of the great creative minds of a bygone era, I for one and simply glad that I had the opportunity to grow up in a household that was filled with art, from floor to ceiling and every wall in between! Oftentimes, there were paintings covering the ground leading to the koi pond and down the side yard into the garden. As many have told me before growing up, seeing our Moms home was believing in something much greater than ourselves! I can recall distinctly people would come to our home as a young boy and they would always cry? I was puzzled by this as I never truly grasped this until adulthood when I realized how lacking fine art is in most homes that I visited since. When you are around art, music and creativity in general there is a healing nature about it that I believe goes much deeper within us than we ourselves can ever explain.
In my opinion all of this comes full circle right back to the earth and the very real essence of who we are as connected beings to the earth. The very reason why a great man such as Ansel Adams himself was drawn to photography as am I myself. Attracted to the interactions between the light and the natural beauty of the earth in which is profoundly more significant than y words are here in their ability to describe something more powerful than creation itself!
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Little did I know as a young man how much artists like my mother Ruth Mayer and so many other artists along with her would form and shape the artisan I am today, however, to know that Ansel himself walked in the same hallway that I did in my Mother’s home is something of an exciting thought to me. While I never personally recall any interactions myself, there stirs something within me hearing all of the stories my Mom would recollect about him and their time together. When looking over a new work that I had just created she would adoringly tell me that I am “the best artist and photographer in the world”! In reality I knew she was probably just saying that because I am her kid and that there was no way this was the truth, especially with the likes of the people who she rubbed shoulders with! While I never really cared to compare myself to anyone else in the world or in the community, I do resonate with how Ansel Adams was a passionate lover of the natural earth and his loving eyes as they gazed at the beauty of our world.
I believe in many ways we all have our own ways of seeing the very same scene and within the beauty of our minds eye lays the way each and every one of us will see and ultimately translate a particular moment of light. With everything available to us whether it be travel, technology or equipment I feel that we are living in a time where anything is possible, and the medium continues to evolve with a rate and speed never seen before! While continuing to move the needle and push boundaries, I cannot help but to believe that Ansel Adams himself was doing the very same thing during his time spent roaming the earth in search of his greatest moments. To that very end I am simply in love with the same light, beauty and wonder of the earth that I believe Ansel Adams also was, I can only hope that we as a new generation of creators can capture, preserve and inspire future generations after us as he did for all of us!
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