When I first started seriously studying photography one of the first books I bought was a pictorial by the famous Ansel Adams. -- I still have that photo book and look through it from time to time . - Bob

 

There are not many landscape photographers who become household names. Such is the reputation of Ansel Adams that Jimmy Carter awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980. This is the highest award a civilian can receive. Ansel Adams specialized in black and white photographs of an unspoilt America.

 

We are all familiar with them thru prints, greeting cards, and calendars. A lifelong environmentalist, he captured the landscape before people settled there. His photographs are a celebration of wilderness, a crisp record that are worth more than words with their great clarity.

The collection of photographs covers a range of landscape scenes.

 

 

Ansel Adams never bothered with buildings much, except to photograph old churches. He concentrated on the Yosemite Valley in California, and those pictures are the ones most associated with him. Born in San Francisco in 1902, his parents gave him his first camera. It was a Kodak Box Brownie and he was hooked from that moment.

 

He didn't just photograph the scenery, he also took up mountaineering when a young man. He organized some of the first ascents achieved in Sierra Nevada. One of the peaks in Sierra Nevada, standing at 11,760 ft is named Mount Ansel Adams in his honor.

 

 

The photographs were a great influence on how people thought of their natural heritage. His pictures weren't just something pretty to put on the wall. Ansel Adams influenced the decision to make Sequoia and King's Canyon into National Parks in 1940. His legacy also includes a number of books that he wrote on the subject of photography and three technical photographic manuals. He also helped to improve the techniques of developing prints from negatives.

 

 

A talented photographer can evoke an atmosphere from the subject, creating an image that sticks in the brain. Ansel Adams made clever use of light and composition whatever the scene in front of him. He shot great forests, mountain ranges, and major rivers as well as detailed pictures of a single tree or plant. People rarely appeared, with the exception of farm workers.

 

He photographed in all seasons, immature oak trees in winter or azaleas in full blossom in summer. He loved meadows, lakes, and lonely piers. There are photographs of cloud formations, brightly lit or menacing with the threat of a coming storm.

 

 

Some of the most beautiful and breathtaking images of the Americas, especially the western United States, are portrayed in Ansel Adams’ photography, and I’m a huge fan of his work.  I already have several Ansel Adams posters hanging around my home, and I’m always on the lookout for more.

 

One of my favorite Ansel Adams posters is his famous image of Yosemite’s Halfdome, with a daytime moon behind it.  A particularly striking image of that beautiful and recognizable symbol of Yosemite, this Ansel Adams poster always fills me with a sense of awe and reminds me of my backpacking trips in that region of the country. 

 

Ansel Adams was particularly fond of Yosemite, and did much of his life’s work in the area.  Therefore, many Ansel Adams posters are depictions of different scenic aspects of Yosemite. 

 

They are by far the best representations of the park I’ve ever seen, and yet even they don’t come close to showing the areas magnificence in its entirety.  Having said that, have a number of Yosemite images around me can at times fill me with the same sense of peace and serenity that I get when I am actually in the famous national park. 

 

This is a good feeling to have especially when you actually live in a busy city.  While there is of course a certain beauty to cities as well, the bustling, noisy, and chaotic character to them is well balanced with some Ansel Adams posters.

 

Of course, Ansel Adams took plenty of amazing photogrphs outside of Yosemite as well.  Another one of my favorite Ansel Adams posters is a print of his Tetons and Snake river photograph. 

 

The Grand Tetons are one of the most striking mountain ranges in the country, and this image captures their beauty very well.  While I’ve only been there once, every time I look at the Ansel Adams poster I am reminded of their imposing nature.

 

 

Ansel Adams images have become quite a rage in the last few years, and I’ve seen a rise in popularity in Ansel Adams posters as well.  So not only are they great images to have around a home, they’re also very trendy.  The kinds of images portrayed in an Ansel Adams poster are completely classic as well; a black and white image of mountains, lakes, trees, beaches, or other natural scenes will never be out of style.

 

 

No landscape photographer has achieved such popularity and critical acclaim since Ansel Adams. The fashion now is for social documentary and pictures depicting urban life. We should be very grateful that he was there to show us the heart of America before much of it was changed. Now, excuse me while I look through my Ansel Adams picture book one more time.