Ansel Adams:

Biography:

Ansel Adams was born in 1902, he was born in san Francisco, California and was known for being a photographer and environmentalist. When Ansel Adams was only 4 years old he was struck by and earthquake and a fire which threw him to the ground causing him to break his nose and left life long damage to his face. Ansel Adams was an only child and was born when his parents were already in their middle ages. This caused his growing up environment to be very Victorian, and both socially and emotionally conservative.

What was Ansel Adams famous for?

Ansel Adams was most famous for his black and white images of the American west. Ansel Adams is one of the most famous American photographers known for his stunning photos of the American wilderness and his passion for conservation.

Why did Ansel Adams use the west side of America to take photos?

Most of Ansel Adams photoshoots were taken in the western side of America in and near California. He chose to do his photoshoots here as the west was where there was the most light as it was bright and sunny whereas in the east it was winter so it was dull and not very bright.

Why and who did Ansel Adams influence?

Ansel’s photography has had great impact on people and mainly other photographers, not only in awakening people to the beauty of nature but in inspiring many other photographers to turn their efforts to the natural scene and to use photography in the interests of environmental preservation.

Who influenced Ansel Adams?

Adams was strongly influenced by Alfred Stieglitz, he met him in 1933 and went on a one-man exhibition for him in 1936 at Stieglitz’s, An American Place gallery in New York City.

what was Ansel Adams connection with the group F/64?

f/64 was a group founded by seven 20th century San Francisco Bay Area photographers who shared a common photographic style characterized by sharply focused and carefully framed images seen through a particularly Western (U.S.) viewpoint. In part, they formed in opposition to the pictorialist photographic style that had dominated much of the early 20th century, but moreover, they wanted to promote a new modernist aesthetic that was based on precisely exposed images of natural forms and found objects.

Who did the F/64 consist of?

The group F/64 consisted of these photographers:

Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, John Paul Edwards, Preston Holder, Consuelo Kanaga, Alma Lavenson, Sonya Noskowiak, Henry Swift, Willard Van Dyke, Brett Weston, and Edward Weston.

Ansel Adams mood board:

Description:

Ansel Adams photography creates a sense of adventure and awe, when taking photos Ansel always had a vision and did whatever he could to bring that vision to life within his images, he was able to create a variety of different shades of blacks, whites and greys within his images which really made his work stand out and influenced other photographers to take more time within their work and to explore things deeper when taking photos.

What is the zone system?

The Zone System assigns numbers from 0 through 10 to different brightness values, with 0 representing black, 5 middle gray, and 10 pure white; these values are known as zones. To make zones easily distinguishable from other quantities, Adams and Archer used Roman rather than Arabic numerals.

personal opinion:

What I really like about Ansel Adams work is how he made sure there was a variety of different shades within his photography this made his images really stand out and would draw peoples attention to various different parts of his images rather then just having one small focal point. I lobe how his photography really captures the in depth beauty of the natural world and its surroundings.

My response to Ansel Adams:

Contact sheet:

Description:

For this mini photoshoot I decided to go to Plemont beach and take photos in the style of Ansel Adams. I am very happy with how these images turned out as I would say they are very similar to his work and represent it very well.

Charleston Watkins:

Biography:

Carleton Watkins was an American photographer of the 19th century. Born in New York, he moved to California and quickly became interested in photography. He focused mainly on landscape photography, and Yosemite Valley was a favourite subject of his. His photographs of the valley significantly influenced the United States Congress’ decision to preserve it as a National Park.

What was Carleton Watkins known for?

Carleton E. Watkins is considered one of the greatest photographers of the American West. Traveling the western United States, he made thousands of mammoth and imperial plate photographs of the Yosemite Valley, Columbia River, the Sierra Nevada, and the Pacific Coast in Oregon.

Carleton’s photos:

Carleton Watkins photos are very similar to Ansel Adams work. He also uses his photos in black and white and tea stained coloured images. They are all of very similar locations and he has taken the time to in vision what he wants to achieve within his images before he takes them.

Ansel Adams and Carleton Watkins Photo Comparison:

As you can see Ansel Adams and Carleton Watkins photography style is very similar, I would even say Carleton was inspired by Ansel’s work which may have led him to have such a similar style in photos. Ansel Adams uses the Zone system which is where a bunch of different shades range from 0-10, 0 being the darkest and 10 being the lightest shade within the images. I like both of their types of photography as they both take time and effort within their images and both visualise what they wanted to produce before they produced it.

Edward Weston

Biography:

was an American photographer. He has been called “one of the most innovative and influential American photographers” and “one of the masters of 20th century photography.” Over the course of his 40-year career Weston photographed an increasingly expansive set of subjects, including landscapes, still lifes, nudes, portraits, genre scenes and even whimsical parodies. 

Who was Edward Weston inspired by?

Edward Weston’s early influence was Margrethe Mather, who was also one of Weston’s models and studio assistant. She was also more well read on current issues of photography and helped Weston further develop a modernist theory. A few years after Weston changed in style he also met and was encouraged by John Hagemeyer.

Edward Weston photography:

Description :

Edward Weston’s photography is a very unique type of photography, he takes photographs of objects such as food up close and gets really detailed shots of the objects. As well as Ansel Adams and Carleton Watkins he also uses the zone system with the objects he photographs while they use it for landscape images.

Personal Opinion: