Biography

Ansel Adams was born on February 20, 1902, in San Francisco to Charles and Olive Adams. He states that he lived a happy, peaceful childhood in his autobiography. "My closest experience with profound human suffering was that earthquake and fire (in 1906). But we were not burned out, ruined, or bereft of family and friends. I never went to war, too young for the First and too old for the Second" (5-8). The only true suffering he experienced was frequent illness, according to his accounts (Adams 9). His interest in nature, however, was with him even in childhood. Adams enjoyed exploring the outdoors, and his favorite activity was collecting insects. Running, walking along the beach, and golfing were other activities he enjoyed (Adams 11-12).

He became impatient with school; failing to see the reason behind what he saw as senseless memorization, he had no desire to be in a classroom. After several incidents at school, including an uncontrolled outburst of laughing when "the whole situations suddenly appeared very ridiculous" (Adams 14), he was taken out of school and taught at home by his father. Eventually, he reentered school and received an eighth grade diploma from the Wilkins School (Adams 17). Around the age of 13, he began taking piano lessons and became seriously interested in music. Through music, he became a more disciplined person and learned to channel emotion through art. He studied with Frederich Zech, a prominent pianist of the time. Adams grew to love music and was an accomplished pianist himself (Adams 26).

Ansel Adams’ first experiences with photography were during a family trip to Yosemite in 1916. On the trip, his father gave him a Brownie Box Camera, with which he was fascinated. He spent the entire trip taking many photographs. In the early 1920’s, Ansel Adams became involved with the Sierra Club. "(It) was a basic introduction to the concepts of wilderness and conservation," Adams said (30). While on Sierra Club outings, he took pictures of nature and realized on a deeper level the beauty of nature. He also developed an understanding of art on one of these outings:

Art is both love and friendship and understanding: the desire to give. It is not charity, which is the giving of things. It is more than kindness, which is the giving of self. It is both the taking and giving of beauty, the turning out to the light the inner folds of the awareness of the spirit. It is the recreation on another plane of the realities of the world; the tragic and wonderful realities of earth and men, and of the interrelations of these. (Adams 31)

It was during these years and experiences with nature and photography that he decided he wanted to become a photographer. Bill and Marguerite Zorach, acquaintances of Adams, served as examples of satisfied artists. He realized from their example that it was practical to pursue a career in photography; they gave Adams direction (Adams 51). What started as a hobby slowly became a more serious pursuit.

He photographed his first masterpiece, "Monolith, the Face of Half Dome," in April 1927. This was a visualization, meaning that he determined the desired emotional qualities of the print before he exposed the negative. Almost a year later, Adams married Virginia Rose Best in Yosemite. In 1930, Adams met Paul Strand in Taos Pueblo, New Mexico. After learning of Strand’s complete dedication to creative photography, Adams dedicated himself to a career in photography. That year, he built a home and studio adjacent to his parents’ home ("Ansel").

Ansel Adams founded Group f.64, an organization of photographers dedicated to purity in the art, with Imogen Cunningham, Willard Van Dyke, and Edward Weston in 1932. Also that year, he photographed his famous works "Frozen Lake and Cliffs," "The Golden Gate Before the Bridge," and "Rose and Driftwood." In 1933, his son Michael was born in Yosemite, followed by daughter Anne in 1935. He was elected to the Board of Directors of the Sierra Club in 1934 ("Ansel"). Ansel had generated a large amount of respect among fellow photographers. He began teaching photography workshops at Yosemite with Edward Weston ("San Francisco").

He received the Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship to photograph national parks and monuments in 1946. He is remembered for the extensive collection of photographs resulting from this that illustrate the grandeur of the national parks. From then, he went on to receive several other fellowships and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980 from President Carter. In 1981, he received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Harvard University. Ansel Adams died on April 22, 1984, of heart failure aggravated by cancer ("Ansel").

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