Ansel Adams’ Granddaughter to Speak at ‘Ding’ Darling February 28, 2015 / by STACEY HENSON, shenson@news-press.com Adams rose to prominence as a photographer of the American West, particularly of California’s Yosemite National Park. As an environmental activist, he used his work to promote conservation of wilderness areas. One of his earliest books “Yosemite and the […]
Landscape photographer and environmental activist Ansel Adams’s lucid black and white photographs of the American wilderness helped establish photography as a legitimate art form. A half-century later, there is still an unimpeachable interest in his work at virtually any price point.
“Ansel’s work seems to be sort of a ‘gold standard’ in the photography market,” the artist’s grandson Matthew Adams, president of the Ansel Adams Gallery, told artnet via email. “His work has appreciated, and does fluctuate with the market in general, but doesn’t see the extreme highs and lows that we sometimes see with other photographers’ work.”
With over 800 miles of trails to choose from in the park, there is one fifty mile loop that holds a special place in the hearts and minds of Yosemite ‘s devoted. It is a route that gives an up close and personal view of the mountains that John Muir dubbed “The Range of Light.”
The Lyell Fork of the Merced River with its high, remote peaks and sapphire necklace of lakes was among Adams’ favorite areas in Yosemite . In 1934, he led a Sierra Club outing to the Lyell Fork and the group climbed the then unnamed peak Adams called the Tower in Lyell Fork.
Ansel Adams made this image with a 3 1/4″ x 4 1/4″ Zeiss Jewel view camera. Precisely when he made the image is debatable; some evidence points to 1943, but it may have been on a pack trip in September 1938 with Georgia O’Keeffe and David McAlpin.
There are many ways to get involved. The Ansel Adams Gallery is a Yosemite National Park Partner, and helps support the not-for-profit entities that are dedicated to protecting the resources of Yosemite or educating the public about the Park …
Paintings by Yosemite Artists Della Taylor Hoss, James McGrew, Penny Otwell and Sally Owens.
Leaves, Mills College, California – In 1933 Adams showed a selection of his photographs to the dean of the Art Department at Yale University. Adams wrote, “The dean was a most gracious and kindly person but had never seen my type of photographs. He was taken with ‘Leaves, Mills College Campus’ and asked, ‘Just what is this?’ I said, ‘It is a picture of foliage.’ ‘Yes, I understand that, but what is the subject?’ I said ‘What do you mean?’ He replied (just a bit testily), ‘What is the medium – is it an etching, a lithograph or a detailed painting?’ I said, ‘It’s a photograph!’ I was finally able to convince him that it was a direct photograph from nature. He became quite excited and arranged an exhibit of my work at Yale in 1934.
Multi-day workshops held in Yosemite and the Eastern Sierra. Courses offered in field photography, using digital photography tools, Photoshop, printing techniques and traditional darkroom printing methods. Very few spaces left.
Ansel Adams provides a unique visual perspective of the Golde Gate before and after the iconic bridge construction.