Ansel Adams: Frozen Beauty

Ansel Adams is a name that is known to lovers of art photography all over the world. California photographer, almost the same age of the century, born in 1902 and lived a long life full of creativity, Adams captured on the film everything that attracted his eyes.

Portraits of contemporaries and grandiose architectural structures, the frozen cityscapes of industrial America and, of course, wildlife. It is landscape photographs, made almost always in monochrome, allowed to enter the history of the name Ansel Adams.

The biography of the photo artist originates in California, where in the early 20th century he was born into a happy, wealthy family that had already given up hope of an heir. Parents, heirs of the timber business, initiated by Ansal's great-grandfather, still did not see the soul in his son, but brought him up modestly, with love for the world around him and his native nature.

early years

Being a late and beloved child, the future genius of photography grew morbid, from which he was incapable of sporting achievements and, rarely attending school, had a hard time making friends, preferring loneliness to them. At the age of 4, he broke his nose and, beginning to feel shy of his face, became even more shy. It did not ease Little Ansel's life and inability to learn to read and write well because of dyslexia.

In the end, the father and mother decided to teach him at home and taken away from school, which affected his entire life, inextricably linked with the majestic nature of America. Father spent long walks with the child, instilling in him a love for animals, insects and plants.

The first steps in profession

When the boy was 14 years old, the family took him to Yosemite National Park. For a walk he took with him a camera donated by his father, and after that he began to get involved in photography seriously, visiting exhibitions, writing out magazines and joining a club of photo lovers. This moment can be considered the beginning of his life as a photographer. The charm of nature so struck Ansel, that all his further life he every year came to the park with a camera and a tripod, making more and more new pictures.

One year before adulthood, Ansel Adams became a member of the Sierra Club, whose activities were to protect natural monuments and fight for the preservation of the environment. The club will be his home for many years. Within its walls, he will find like-minded people and meet his future wife Virginia, will participate in the conquest of the Sierra Nevada mountains , and later he will become the director himself.

Creative throwing and first successes

The creative nature of the maturing youth could not stop at one thing, and soon he began to study music, learning to play the piano and getting acquainted with many artists. Despite the new hobby, Ansel did not forget about the photo: in the cold season he gave himself completely to music, and spent three summer months in photographic walks. His work began to publish, but the dream of a musician's career did not leave Ansel.

At the age of 25, Ansel Adams created his first portfolio, which was rightfully proud and which earned a well-deserved success. He was estimated at 4,000 dollars. Businessmen, rich people and celebrities became regular customers of his pictures. He developed as a photographer, experimented with various artistic styles, settled on realism, which became the hallmark of his works.

Having married, Ansel together with his wife created in the studio of her father a gallery that will become the most famous in the world. At the same time, he realized that he would not be a great musician, and he devoted himself entirely to photography, spending more and more time behind the lens, and soon held the first exhibition.

Nature defender and master photography

Three quarters of his life was devoted to Ansel Adams photography. Not even 40 years old, he began to enjoy respect from famous and distinguished colleagues, and also created his famous "Zonal theory", in which he spoke about how to reproduce the tone in a monochrome picture. The theory forever etched his name: and today professional photographers use it to calculate the exposure.

Consultant "Polariod" and "Hasselband", the author of dozens of books on photo art, a member of the Academy of Sciences of America, who founded the first in the US Department of Art Photography and the magazine "Apertura", twice a fellow Guggenheim fund, in whose honor was named one of the mountains in Sierra Nevada - All this Ansel Adams.

Quotations of the master, who created more than ten thousand photographs, characterized by impeccable technique and an unforgettable composition, help to understand how this extraordinary man devoted himself to creativity and service to nature.

The words of a genius about the whole life

"Sometimes I find myself in such beautiful places where God is just waiting for me to press the camera down."

"There are always two people in any photo - it's a spectator and a photographer."

"This photo does not need explanations and it does not need to be expressed in words."

"There are no shooting rules - there are only good shots."