Charles Hitchcock Adams
| Ansel Adams | |
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| Born |
Ansel Easton Adams February 20, 1902 San Francisco, California, US |
| Died | April 22, 1984 (aged 82) Monterey, California |
| Known for | Photography and conservationism |
| Spouse(s) | Virginia Rose Best |
| Website |
anseladams anseladams |
Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American photographer and environmentalist. His black and white landscape photographs of the American West, especially Yosemite National Park, have been widely reproduced on calendars, posters, books, and the internet.
Adams and Fred Archer developed the Zone System as a way to determine proper exposure and adjust the contrast of the final print. The resulting clarity and depth characterized his photographs. He primarily used large-format cameras because their high resolution helped ensure sharpness in his images.
Adams founded the photography group known as Group f/64, along with fellow photographers Willard Van Dyke and Edward Weston.
Adams was born in the Western Addition of San Francisco, California, the only child of Charles Hitchcock Adams and Olive Bray Adams. He was named after his uncle, Ansel Easton. His mother's family came from Baltimore, where his maternal grandfather had a successful freight-hauling business but lost his wealth investing in failed mining and real estate ventures in Nevada. The Adams family came from New England, having migrated from Northern Ireland in the early 18th century. His paternal grandfather founded and built a prosperous lumber business which his father later ran, though his father's natural talents lay more with sciences than with business. Later in life, Adams condemned that very same industry for cutting down many of the great redwood forests.
In 1907, his family moved 2 miles (3 km) west to a new home near the Seacliff neighbourhood, just south of the Presidio Army Base. The home had a "splendid view" of the Golden Gate and the Marin Headlands. San Francisco was devastated by the April 18, 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The four year-old Ansel Adams was uninjured in the initial shaking but was tossed face-first into a garden wall during an aftershock three hours later, breaking and scarring his nose. Among his earliest memories was watching the smoke from the ensuing fire that destroyed much of the city a few miles to the east. A doctor recommended that his nose be reset once he reached maturity, but it remained crooked for his entire life.
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