Ansel Adams' America

Ansel Adams once said "A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words". Undoubtedly one of the most celebrated photographers in American history, Ansel Adams stumbled across photography quite unaware of the passion it would evoke in him. Given his first camera, a Kodak Brownie Box, he took his first photographs at Yosemite National Park. He would return a year later with a more serious intention for conveying the beauty he could see. He believed that photographs could eclipse words, and that photography could not convey something, then the only other appropriate response was an awed silence, an overwhelming failure of language to describe the wonders and beauty of the natural world.

Adams actually spent his early life training to become a piano player, learning the skills to become a photographer as a hobby. His photography also fit in with his love of nature and conservation, a cause he felt very strongly about. For Adams photography and music were a way of expressing and conveying beauty to others. Indeed in the 1920s when other photographers were attempting to emulate the art world with painted photographs inspired by Impressionism, Adams was to steer clear and rather experiment with raw photography and explore the boundaries it held. His high contrast style was something he happened to accidently come across, however the results were something he could never have imagined. For him it provided a photograph of what he 'felt' when he looked, rather than what he could see simply with his eyes.

Towards the end of the 1920s Adams was to find himself in the circles of some of the most influential artists of the period. He managed to hold his first solo exhibition in 1931, in review of which The Washington Post wrote “His photographs are like portraits of the giant peaks, which seem to be inhabited by mythical gods”. He would go on to form a group based on 'Pure Photography', which sought to remove itself from other art forms, negating any ideas of composition or techniques. In the 1930s artists felt a social obligation to address the issues around them, especially poignant in response to The Depression, which saw the economical landscape of the world dramatically changed. Adams decided to use his photographer to bring light to the cause of the preservation of nature, however the emotion behind such photographs had such intensity that they would convey meanings on multiple levels.

Adams was also responsible for one of the most important photographic exhibitions ever, entitled 'A Pageant of Photography' in 1940, which would attract millions. In the 1940s he would also work with the military following the attack on Pearl Harbour. In the 1950s he would work with a number of magazines, as well as starting his own. He also began teaching, which he would continue to do until the 1980s. He believed himself to be on the down slope of his photograph abilities in the 1950s, however he would continue to shoot thousands of photographs in the last 20 years of his life, sadly ending in 1984.

Ansel Adams is remembered for his powerfully emotive photographs and for raising the art of photography to the level of the more traditional arts. As he would continually tell his students "It is easy to take a photograph, but it is harder to make a masterpiece in photography than in any other art medium".

Currently playing: Bust It Baby ft. Trey Songz - Plies / Just The Way I'm Feeling - Feeder

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