Who is Ansel Adams?
Ansel Adams born in February 1902 was a photographer and environmentalist. Ansel was born in San Francisco, California. He took black-and-white landscape photographs of the American west, especially Yosemite National Park, which have been largely reproduced and used on calendars, posters and all over the internet.
Ansel Adams and Fred Archer where two mens who developed the Zone system as a way to control proper exposure and to alter the contrast of the final print. He was able to create a sense of simplicity and depth within his images which helped characterise his photographs. He mainly used large-format cameras because of the size of film he used with these cameras contributed to the clearness of his prints.
Examples of his work
Photo analysis of Ansel’s work
This photograph appears to have been taken with only natural light. Wide angle lenses are used to capture landscape photos, which is likely what would have been used to create this image. This image has a large tonal range, were the foreground and parts of clouds are made to look very dark and sinister on the tops of the mountains, coated in snow. This image has a large depth of field as the closest parts of the image are sharp and in focus as well as the furthest points such as the clouds. A fast shutter speed would have been used to capture this image because we can see there is no motion blur within the river or the clouds. There is little use of rule of thirds used because it is clear that he is trying to show off natural and making the whole image the main subject and allowing the whole picture to show of natures beauty rather than a specific area in the photograph. I think Adams was trying to influence the idea that the environment is not something that needs to be changed and altered.
For my urban landscapes homework I decided do my photo shoot from a higher perspective taking inspiration from Nicholas Nixon and photographed buildings, with architectural views. I also took inspiration from Thomas Struth’s photos of industrialised cities and how he incorporated people and movement, presenting images of chaotic urban activity in some images, which is why I captured the movement and business of the cars. I decided to take my images as the sky was turning dark as I thought it would make the lights from the cars and buildings stand out more than if i took them in the day. In my first contact sheet the images have a blue tint where the the sun has not completely gone down, whereas my second contact sheet the sky in completely black by the end, showing the differences the light has on the images. 
In my second contact sheet the lights from the buildings and cars are much more bright and noticeable as the yellow/orange is contrasted with the black background , making it more clear that it is night time. I think these photos are more effective as the lights from the cars make the whole road light up, making it glow and stand out more.
