From Polaroid to Impossible

Ansel Easton Adams born on February 20, 1902 in San Francisco, California. In 1915 his father removed him from school and he was home-schooled in Greek, the English classics, algebra, and the nature that surrounded their home. His father also bought him a season pass to the Panama-Pacific Exposition, which he visited nearly every day. In 1916 the Adams family visited Yosemite National Park, where Adams was given his first camera. At this point in his life, Adams had planned to become a concert pianist, but he soon discovers the joys of photography.

Adams' first acknowledged picture appears in 1927. In 1932, he formed the f/64 group with Edward Veston, with whom he goes on to teach his first workshop with at Yosemite, called the U. S. Camera Photogrpahic Forum. Adams began serving on the Board of the Sierra Club in 1932, a position he held until 1971. In March of 1933, Adams met Alfred Stieglitz, owner of An American Place photo gallery. Stieglitz was so impressed with Adams work that he held an exhibition for Adams in 1936. In 1943, Adams sought to contribute to the war effort by recording the lives of the American-born citizens of Japanese descent who were interned in the Manzanar War Relocation Camp. In 1949 Adams tested Polaroid cameras for Edwin Land,

In 1953, Adams collaborated with Dorothea Lange on a Life commission for a photo essay on the Mormons in Utah. In 1967, he was instrumental in the foundation of the Friends of Photography. Adams was a commercial photographer for 30 years, within which he won three Guggenheim grants to photograph the national parks. In 1980, The Ansel Adams Conservation Award was established by the Wilderness Club, and Adams named as the first recipient.

Ansel Adams died April 22 of heart failure aggravated by cancer.

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