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| Ansel Adams stands as one of America's greatest landscape photographers. Born in San Francisco, Adams was trained as a concert pianist. His first photographs were made at the age of 14 using a Kodak Brownie camera during a visit to Yosemite Valley with his parents. This visit strongly influenced the course of Adams' life. By age 30, he had changed his path and chosen a career in photography. Adams' photographs are elegantly composed and technically flawless. Ansel Adams proved a tireless investigation of the methods of photography, pioneering a method called The Zone System, a technique which allows photographers to translate the light they see into specific densities on negatives and paper, thus giving better control over finished images. Throughout his career, Ansel Adams became well known for the clarity of his instruction and his hands-on workshop approach to the medium. Ansel Adams advocated the role of photography as a fine art, inspiring new ways of seeing and communicating. He influenced generations of photographers though his teaching, practice, and publishing endeavors, and has gained standing as one of America's best-known photographer. Saguaro Cactus, made in 1946, is the state flower of Arizona, a tall and slow-growing cactus able to store much water and usually living up to 200 years. The cactus is quite vulnerable to environmental damage, possibly being blown down or broken by strong storm winds or lightning. The cactus buds flowers at the top in the spring months and provides habitat for many desert animals. Ansel Adams was fascinated with the beauty and magnificence of the cactus, a subject of the desert west of which he treasured.  (For Grades K-2) Where do you think the artist took this photograph? Where do you think he was standing? Does it seem like this was taken on a sunny day? How can you tell? Have you ever seen a cactus before? Where? Which lines can you find in this photograph? Which shapes? |
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Ansel Easton Adams American, 1902-1984 Saguaro Cactus, Sunrise Arizona Gelatin Silver Print, ca. 1948 Collection Museum of Photographic Arts Gift of Joseph Isaacson 1993.013.002 © Trustees of The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust |
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