Ansel Adams Research

Ansel Adams was a photographer and environmentalist, born in San Francisco, California (Feburary 20, 1902 - April 22, 1984). Adams work mostly focussed on black-and-white landscape photography, especially within Yosemite National Park, with his works being widely distributed on calendars, posters and books. Adams developed the zone system in order to determine correct exposure and to adjust the image contrast. He also wrote about the topic of pre-visualisation in his photography writings, defining it as "the ability to anticipate a finished image before making the exposure." Ansel Adams was a part of the f/64 group. This is a group of seven 20th century photographers who shared a similar photography technique and opposed the Pictorialist photographic style which dominated the photography field at the time they formed. Although, they focussed more on promoting a new Modernist aesthetic than opposing the Pictorialist technique. Below are a few examples of his work.

This image is of the Tetons and the Snake River at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, USA. I like how, after discovering the context of the image, I can see how the river looks like a snake with the curved lines. The image uses dark tones and and leading lines to create an effect of mystery within the image.

 I like this image as it looks almost as though the clouds are taking over the mountains due to the size of them. The dark tones in this image, much like the last one, create an air of mystery and the darkness represents how the clouds cover the sky and are sending the landscape into darkness.

I like how the left side of the sand hill is in complete darkness as it really makes you focus on the lines on the right side. This side also has extreme darkness in between each line, accentuating each line really making the pattern pop. I also like how, although with the effect given it is the same colour as the sky, the sand hill is still managing to be the focal point of the image.