His pictures played a major role in the late 1930s in establishing Kings Canyon National Park. Not all of Adams's pictures were 'uplifting' or 'optimistic' images of scenic wonders he also documented scenes of overgrazing in the arid Southwest and of incarcerated Japanese-Americans in the Manzanar internment camp.įrom the beginning, Adams used his photographs in the cause of conservation. He did winnow, ruthlessly, and the result was a collection of work that introduced millions of people to the majesty and diversity of the American landscape. He explained: 'I have made thousands of photographs of the natural scene, but only those images that were most intensely felt at the moment of exposure have survived the inevitable winnowing of time.' As he observed, 'Everybody needs something to believe in my point of focus is conservation.' He used his photographs to make that point more vivid and turned it into an enduring legacy.Īdams was a painstaking artist, and some critics have chided him for an overemphasis on technique and for creating in his work 'a mood that is relentlessly optimistic.' Adams was a careful technician, making all of his own prints (reportedly hand-producing over 13,000 in his lifetime), sometimes spending a whole day on one print. A trip to Yosemite Valley as a teenager had a profound influence on him, and Yosemite National Park and the Sierra 'range of light' attracted him back many times and inspired two great careers: photographer and conservationist. Schooled at home by his parents, he received little formal training except as a pianist.

American photographer and conservationistĪnsel Adams is best known for his stark black-and-white photographs of nature and the American landscape.

Ansel easton adams