Artist research: Ansel Easton Adams

Ansel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist. His black and white landscape photographs of the American West, especially Yosemite National Park, have been widely reproduced on calendars, posters, books, and the internet. Ansel Adams was born on the 20^th of February 1902 and died on the 22^nd of April 1984. Adams was obviously alive around the time of world war one and two; this means that he may have had fewer privileges and would have been affected by the war because of people he knew who may have fought for America. There was even criticism to the fact that Adams focused so much on capturing images of the world, when there were arguably more important factors at stake.

Adams was born in San Francisco, the son of a businessman. When Adams was only four, an aftershock of the great earthquake and fire of 1906, threw him on the ground and badly broke his nose. A year later, the family’s fortune collapsed and so they found themselves attempting to recoup. Natural shyness and a certain intensity of genius coupled with his damaged nose, Adams struggled to fit in at school. The most important part of Adam’s life was that he loved nature as evidence by his long walks and hiking (nearly every day). When Adam was twelve, he taught his self to play the piano which led to discipline and self-confidence- what he needed as a photographer. In Adams words, his life was “coloured and modulated by the great Earth gesture”. In 1927, Adams made his first fully visualised photograph.

Adams met photographer Paul Strand who influenced his pictures, he began to pursue ‘straight photography.’ Ansel Adams is well known for spending a whole day in the darkroom, just to produce one print. He would paint onto the areas of a photo he thought should be darker or lighter than others. His pictures were mainly of the great outdoors, which puts man into perspective. He wanted people to understand the world, through his images- that we live in a world that exists in a larger world. His images seem to have almost completely detached a human attachment, and I think that’s part of the reason that they’re so great. It’s encouraged our focus onto the parts of the image that he wants us to see. When Adams took a photo, he didn’t just capture a scene, he captured a feeling.

This is one of Adam’s pictures. The picture is black and white with several buildings and old fashioned cars. In the picture there is a small hotel and other facilities available. Also, the sky is clear on the right hand side of the picture unlike the far right. Furthermore, the place looks miserable and sad because there is nothing really captivating or interesting going on. Interestingly, there are no people involved in the picture which allows viewers to concentrate on the skyline. This is an image taken in Los Vegas.

Adams use of colour emphasized certain parts of the photo; the front car and some front buildings are black whilst buildings closer to the sky are almost white. Black and white are complementary colours which work together to create a contrast that matches reality. Van Gogh also emphasized the effects of complementary colours. The dull colours used could express the country as lifeless because of the war going on. The viewer is made to look at the car first because it Is the only one that looks out of line. Again, this could show the state of some people’s lives at this time period. But the sky brings light which is shed across some parts of the city. This is interesting as it seems as if the light is trapped and cannot shine on the city. Again, this shows the negative emotions created in the photo.

In the piece, the place looks empty and so this could reflect the emotional state of the writer which is lonely. I liked this picture because it was inspirational to my pieces and how I should make it personal to me and my past experiences. The pictures are detailed and so therefore encouraged me to add more details to my buildings and show the contrast in tone. The emotions: loneliness, melancholies and isolation could all be read through one picture but what I mainly enjoyed about this picture is that there was hope (the light).

Ansel Adams was known to be unchurched but deeply religious. The picture could show his faith and his belief in an afterlife because of the open skies as the only light source; even in the time of sadness and loneliness Adams could still find hope.

This is another one of Adam’s photography. In this picture there are dark clouds that look like they are parting away to release the sun. There is only on building in this photo this time with a few bushes around it and a road. The building looks like some sort of religious or important building that may have been important to Ansel Adams. The photo is, again, black and white with a large gate in front of the building with average sized walls. Furthermore, there is an absence of any form of life or transport. The place looks unlived in and desolate.

This is a 3D image where the building looks almost as high as a sky scraper. Sections of the picture that are whitish are the open skies and the building. This allows them to stand out as the main attraction of the peace. The tone of the piece is dark and contrasting colours are used again but this time to show tension. The clouds and the sky use contrasting colours alongside each other that almost look as if they are pushing against each other. Furthermore, there is white skies where the point of the dome is present, this makes the building look special and of high significance.

Obviously, the building has some sort of texture- most likely rough- so for my art pieces I included texture so that it would resemble actual buildings. The colours would still make the buildings look realistic and the detail would be precise like a picture.

Finally, this photographer influenced me because he used only two colours but could still emphasize tone and structure of buildings. His detail was precise, because it was a picture; and most importantly, his emotions were reflected through his piece.