Best was a landscape painter who lived in Yosemite full-time during the summers, and also had a piano. However, after inquiring the whereabouts of a piano he could use during the summers in Yosemite, Adams met Harry Best. Winters back in San Francisco were a chance for Adams to reconnect with his love of music. Though Adams loved the outdoors, his love for the piano went unfulfilled in the summers he spent in Yosemite. During the times Adams spent back in San Francisco, away from Yosemite, he studied Greek, business, accounting, and again, piano. The 'wildness' of these pure, unadulterated areas is what fed such inspiration to Adams. He photographed the wilderness using the techniques of the time and also the ideals of ancient art. The wilderness had taken hold of Adams, sending him on trips into untamed regions. His mental stability improved and he practiced the great discipline he had learned as a young piano player, waiting hours for the right light to shoot a certain scene. He developed the stamina to haul his camera equipment with him through the back country treks that were becoming commonplace for him. Somewhat sickly and slightly manic about germs and disease prior to living in Yosemite, Adams began to feel stronger, mentally and physically, the longer he spent there. Perhaps one of the reasons Adams felt so strongly connected to the great wilderness was because of how it greatly improved his health. In this environment, Adams would begin to evolve as a photographer and as a conservationist.
Through this experience, Adams met many of the Sierra Club's members and created strong friendships with very important people in the conservation society including Joseph LeConte, one of the foremost conservation scientists at the time. By this time, he had traveled to Yosemite National Park many times and felt he was more than capable of living inside this place that struck him as so fantastic. But to continue his education and be closer to the mountains that inspired him, Adams took a job as a caretaker at the Sierra Club's LeConte Lodge in 1920. With no formal way in which to learn the art of photography, Adams absorbed as much information from his workplace as possible. He took a part-time job working as a "dark room monkey," picking up and dropping off orders for his employer and helping in the dark room, developing and printing film. Through his trip to the Sierras, Adams quickly developed a love for photography. The final product was a picture taken as Adams was falling, a perfect shot taken at 180 degrees. Some may say one of the first pictures Adams shot was an indication of his talent the shot was taken from on top of a stump, and it had collapsed underneath him just as he was about the take the picture. Hutching's In the Heart of the Sierras, and it had inspired him to see the stunning place described in the book. Months before, in the spring of 1916, Adams had read a copy of James M. Although Adams' classical music training was the primary focus in his youth, a gift of a Kodak Number 1 Box Brownie camera from his parents in the summer of 1916 drew Adams' young, active mind in a new direction: Photography. His first piano teacher was Miss Marie Butler, who demanded perfection, and this is where Adams learned the amazing discipline he would use in his other endeavors, namely photography. Adams' piano experience increased until it was evident he would be a brilliant player. He learned as well the beauty and glory of the outdoors, with the ocean surrounding their home as inspiration. Greek, English classical literature, algebra and music were the basis of Adams' education. They began home schooling Ansel, using a curriculum they formatted to fit their son. Charles and Olive allowed their son to leave public school at the age of 12. Also a classical musician and profound idealist, Adams was an asset to the conservation movement.īorn February 2, 1902, in San Francisco, Ansel Adams was brought up by Charles and Olive Adams, two liberal thinkers. Adams' wide range of appeal spanned from some of the most intellectual thinkers in America to Playboy Magazine and from die-hard conservationists to those in the avant garde art scene.
The motivations behind his seemingly basic art are profound and full of political commentary. His photographs are often hailed as some of the most important pieces of art in conservation and worldwide history. While officially possessing only a grammar school education, Adams was awarded six honorary degrees from schools including Berkley and Harvard.
A man of great talent and a brilliant mind, Ansel Adams is one of the most widely-acclaimed photographers in conservationist record.