Quick Reference Dictionary of Art/The Drawing Place

ADAMS, Ansel [1902-1984]

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In a career that spanned six decades, Ansel Adams (1902-84) was at once America's foremost landscape photographer and one of its most respected environmentalists. He was a photographer, conservationist; born in San Francisco. A commercial photographer for 30 years, he made visionary photos of western landscapes that were inspired by a boyhood trip to Yosemite. He won three Guggenheim grants to photograph the national parks (1944--58). Founding the f/64 group with Edward Weston in 1932, he developed zone exposure to get maximum tonal range from black-and-white film. He served on the Sierra Club Board (1934--71). He despised the regimentation of a regular education, and was taken out of school. Private tutors provided further instruction. In 1940 he taught his first Yosemite workshop, the U. S. Camera Photographic Forum, in Yosemite with Edward Weston. He died April 22 of heart failure aggravated by cancer.

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Primary Reference Source:
http://www.zpub.com/sf/history/adams.html