elegant art

The famous photographer Ansel Adams (1902 -1984) was born in San Francisco, California. Adams' dramatic black and white photographs of Yosemite National Park and the American West are some of the most generally recognized and appreciated photographs of the twentieth century.

Ansel Adams found his love of photography and the American West during a family vacation to the Yosemite National Park in his early teens. He captured his first photographs of the grandiose Yosemite Valley and he returned to photograph the park every year after that for his entire life.

Soon after his family vacation, he developed a passion for photography and showed a tremendous talent. Though photography was merely a hobby for many years, it was in his late 20s that Adams decided to embark in the career of photography. He chose the American West as the focus of his early work. During the next two decades, Adams' distinct approach to western landscape, gained a dedicated audience, especially amid the growing number of wilderness enthusiasts.

As a dedicated conservationist from an early age, Adams served as a director of the Sierra Club. In his later career, Adams actively campaigned in raising awareness for the preservation of the natural landscape and wildlife. Adams was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. Acknowledging Adam's years of work in photography and as an environmentalist.