45.+Ansel+Adams+(1902-1984)

**1. Birthplace **
San Fransisco, California

**2. Social or art movement (for example, the Renaissance) **
He was an environmentalist. In a way he created his own art movement, after he started taking so many pictures, several others did too.

**3. Where did they study or who did they apprentice with? **
Ansel studied on his own in the forests of Yosemite.

**4. Who or what influenced their work? **

 * He met a man named Albert M. Bender who helped him create his first photography portfolio. Literally a day after they met, Bender was preparating for the publication of Ansel's first portfolio.
 * Paul Strand's pictures had a major impact on Ansel, they inspired him to move away from the "pictorial" style he had favored in the 1920s.
 * In 1927, Adams met photographer Edward Weston. They were extremely beneficial to each other. Because of their amazing energy they were apart of the short lived f/64 group, and brought straight photography to San Francisco. Straight photography is pictures taken that depict a scene as realistically as possible. F/64 was a group of seven photographers from San Francisco that took pictures similarly, and it was very short lived
 * The Sierra Club Magazine helped Ansel out greatly. He wrote his first article in 1922.
 * And of course, the world around him was very influential. When he was young he lived near the ocean, and he preferred to be outside. He even camped in Yosemite for at least a month. You could definitely say he loved the outdoors.

**5. What made their work unique? Descr ****ibe their style of artwork. **
Many critics gave him a bad review because he didn't take pictures of people, but rather the environment. It wasn't very popular or common for nature to be the envelope the artists were pushing. He started that, and stayed true to what he was passionate about. He didn't let the critics affect what he took pictures of.

**6. Is there any interesting story of their life you can share? **
At the age of 12, Ansel's parents pulled him out of public school and began homeschooling him. They constructed a curriculum just for him. This curriculum consisted of Greek, English Classical Literature, Music, English, and Algebra. He learned the most from nature and music, especially the piano, though.

**7. Include a quote by or about the artist. **
Ansel has some of the most inspiring quotes, in my opinion. Here are a few examples:
 * “Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera. A oneness with your world is your film. Your bright eyes and easy smile is your museum.”


 * “In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration.”


 * “I have often had a retrospective vision where everything in my past life seems to fall with significance into logical sequence.”


 * “I don't know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is.”

For more quotes go to: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/12115.Ansel_Adams

** 9. Most famous works (3 or more) **






**10. Citation**
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/12115.Ansel_Adams http://www.anseladams.com/searchresults.asp?cat=51