Ansel Adams

About Adams

Ansel Adams was born in 1902 in none other than San Francisco. Adam’s grew up just outside the Golden Gate Bridge‚ which ultimately lead to his love in nature. As a child he would always go on nature hikes and walks. He had taken a trip a little east to see Yosemite National Park. He hiked‚ climbed‚ and explored giving him a lot of self-esteem and self-confidence. As a child this trip changed him. His parents bought him a Kodak No. Box Brownie which he first began taking pictures with. Later he became part of the Sierra Club where he spent his first of four summers in Yosemite Valley. Adams met many of the club’s leaders‚ who were founders of the America’s nascent conversation movement. One of the summers he spent in Yosemite Valley he met his wife‚ Virginia Best‚ they married in 1928 and later had two children.
     The Sierra Club was vital to Adam’s early success as a photographer. He published photographs and writings that appeared in the Sierra Club’s bulletin. Each summer Adams participated in a month-long High Trip‚ usually in the Sierra Nevada. These trips attracted a lot of members‚ which included pack mules to help move equipment‚ backpackers‚ and cooks so they can eat on their long adventure. When he was little he learned to play the piano and started playing and making money as a concert pianist‚ when he wasn’t taking up his hobby of hiking and photography. In the late 1920’s Adams began to realize that as the photographer of these trips he could make enough money to survive. By 1934 Adams had been elected to be on the club’s board of directors and was established as the artist of the Sierra Nevada and the defender of Yosemite.

Adams and his Camera