Style

        Favorite Photographer: Ansel Adams

My most influential and favorite photographer is Ansel Adams. I chose Ansel Adams to be my favorite photographer because the style he shoots and the images he captures. My favorite type of photography to shoot is of nature, similar to Adams. Ansel Adams is famous for his black and white landscape photographer.

Ansel Adams was born in Western Addition of San Francisco, California, on February 20 of 1902. He was an only child to Charles Hitchcock Adams and Olive Bray Adams. Ansel was a troubled child with the difficulties of being calm and well behaved, he was also prone to frequent sickness. Because of his difficulties in education, Ansel moved from school to school, only to end up being home school, bringing various home tutors and family members to help him learn, he only received up to an eighth grade education. Because of Ansel’s lack of patience he was unable to sit through a normal children's activity, yet he found the beauty of nature early in life, began to take interest in the world's environment around him.

Ansel found interest in the piano at age twelve, this becoming the main aspect and focus of his youth. Because he took much interest into being a pianist and learning the piano, Ansel’s father provided him with piano lessons. The piano was a way to keep Ansel focussed and disciplined, this led him to reach for accuracy and perfection and to achieve something. While the piano was his structure in life for almost twelve years, it was not his path to take.

Ansel first began his photography journey after his first visit to Yosemite National Park in 1916. After taking only ametuer photos on his first trip to the national park Ansel became very interested in the camera and the images he was capturing, he had much enthusiasm in this doing. Because of Ansel’s high interest in photography he began to learn more about the art and go to Yosemite to create more of these intriguing and inspirational images. He began to attend photography clubs, read more about photography, to learn the ways and techniques of photography.

After marrying in 1928 he continued his photography in his wife's family studio. But once his wife’s father became ill, the Adam’s family ran the studio, and still do today. This studio is still ran by the Adam’s today and is known as the Ansel Adams Gallery.

At the age of 27, Ansel’s love for nature led him to join the Sierra Club, this club is a dedicated group of environmentalist who want to protect earth and its wild places. I believe this grew his love of the earth and led him to his style of photography.

His first photographs were published at Best’s Studio in 1921, his first photographs began to show his style and the contents of a great photographer, but with room for improvement. And by the mid 1920’s Adams had discovered his signature, black and white. This is because he did not find interest in hand coloring his photography or pictorialism. By 1927 Ansel had produced his first portfolio, this was the start to a full photography career.

The three Ansel Adams photographs I chose to recreate were all simple, yet creative, and told a bright and colorful story without color. Because I could not completely recreate his exact photographs I chose three images that were not boring or to ecstatic, but had simplicity and showed the world around him.

Ansel Adams   Recreations