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.