Some of the work by one of America’s best known landscape photographers, Ansel Adams, is currently on an eighteen month national tour, ending March 2010. The exhibition, Ansel Adams: The Man Who Captured the Earth’s Beauty, is composed of twenty-five of his original silver gelatin prints from as far back as the late twenties and highlights the dramatic black and white work for which is most noted regarding the spectacular natural beauty found in Yosemite National Park, California, and Denali National Park in Alaska.
Ansel Adams is a native of San Francisco, and found fascination in photography around the age of fourteen upon seeing the beauty of the Yosemite National Park on a family trip. From his first shots with a box Brownie camera, he had found his calling, and dedicated his life to capturing and sharing the beauty of nature in the western states. His intention was to not merely capture the beauty of such impressive settings merely as art objects, but rather to use the impressive images to help drive an appreciation for our natural wonders and therefore drive conservation efforts, often working in concert with his friend and fellow conservationist, the Muir Woods National Monument namesake, John Muir. Ansel Adams is best known for his iconic images of Yosemite’s most dramatic features: El Capitan, Half-Dome, Yosemite Valley, Glacier Point, Yosemite Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, Inspiration Point (Tunnel View), and the giant Sequoia Redwood trees, and many of those images can be seen in the exhibit. While many are familiar with his work, most have only seen them in books, and while many visitors to the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite Valley have had the experience of seeing some of the original prints, the national tour will try to share those images with many more across the country.
The works have a timeless quality and remain as powerful today as they did when Ansel Adams shot them, due to the techniques he employed, which afforded greater contrasts and clarity than other images of his time. The traveling exhibition will run through March 2010, spanning five states for two to three months at each stop. More information can be obtained at the Ansel Adams website: www.AnselAdams.com
