Ansel Adams part 2

Edward Weston

Bill Brandt

Ansel Adams genre is considered landscape photography because he takes different pictures of nature, such as Yosemite. Landscape photography is a genre where a photographer only takes pictures of nature, rarely having any humans in their photographs. Instead of focusing on a human subject, instead having a subjects like landforms, weather, and ambient light. Many photographs get their influence from paintings of landscape. Photographers mainly use tools like a pinhole camera, or a large format camera with a tripod, with wide-angle lenses (25mm or 35mm). Other famous landscape photographers include Bill Brant (1904-1983) and Edward Weston (1886-1958).

When Adams was first starting as a photographer he would use the pictorialism style and was influenced by famous photographers, such as Alfred Steiglysdt. As he got older he changed his style into landscape photography ad was influenced by some landscape painters who came before him. Some of his influences were painter Albert Bierdist and Thomas Moran. Albert Bierdist was not the first landscape artist, but was one of them and was one of the most important landscape painters. There were numerous photographers who mentored Adams when he was a budding photographer, such as Imogen Cunningham, Bill Brandt, and Edward Weston. They helped sculpt him into the landscape photographer he was in his prime.

Adams brought many new ideas, concepts and styles to the photography world. Adams most important contribution is the zone system, which he worked on with Fred archer. The zone system provides photographers with a systematic method of precisely defining the relationship between the way they visualize the photographic subject and the final results. The zone system heightens or softens the contrast by the means of filtration, development, and print controls. It also darkens areas in photographs that would normally be too distracting. He also influenced future photographers on the importance of balancing nature and technology and is the photographer that all landscape photographers look up to and compare their work to.

Ansel Adams part 1

Ansel Adams was born on February 20,1902 and died on April 22, 1984. He was born in the western edition of San Francisco to a wealthy family and was an only child. During his childhood he was never a sports player he was always interested in nature by collecting bugs and going to the beach, which contributed to being an environmental activist as he was later. In school, he never fit in because he was very shy and a bit of a genius, which lead to him loving nature at a young age. He would take long walks on baker beach and hike among the dunes, which influenced his photography years later. When he was fourteen years old he got his first camera and immediately fell in love with photography.

His first photographs that were published came in 1821 for the Sierra Club. In New York 1933 Ansel first met with Alfred Stieglitz who was a famous and respected photographer in New York, he was impressed with Adams and promised him a show in 1936. However, rather than focus on his photography he decided to focus on his newlywed wife and children. He used his skill at photography in order to help make Kings Canyon a national park and met with Johnson, Carter, and ford in order to help conserve national parks. Adams died on April 22, 1984 when he was 82 years old and a year after he died a mountain in Yosemite was dedicated to him and named Mt. Ansel Adams.

Ansel Adams had a unique style of photography that he developed over time. At first he tried to follow other photographers in a pictorial style. However, he decided to create his own style with sharp focus, high contrast, good expose, and working in the darkroom. Ansel Adams was an environmental activist and took pictures of nature. Mostly taking pictures of Yosemite. He was an innovator in the photography world as he developed the zone system. The zone system was a technique where the subject in the photo would be extenuated and clear. The subject would be contracting the negative space. This allowed his photos to created depth and clarity in his phones. His first photograph that showed his individual style was Monolith. Monolith was a picture of half dome where he used a red filter to heighten the contrast and create a dramatic effect.

Ansel Adams Style

With all of these pieces I was unable to completely capture Ansel Adams style. I attempted to take Landscape photos of the presidio and I also made the pictures black and white.