Ansel Adams
The father of zone system

Hello steemians

Another week, another photographic dedication.
I leave in Greece. Beautiful Greece with natural beauty and extremely photographic stimulates. From the look of the sea, our exotic islands with atmospherical beaches to our gigantic mountains with their white dressed cliffs and mythical histories written on their rocks.
Those places are heaven to any natural landscape photographer and not only. Speaking of landscape photographers, let's talk about a photographer, who was mastered in landscape photography, and gave us the "holy bible" for landscape and black&white photography.

This week our dedication will bring to us Ansel Adams, the father of zone system.

Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 - April 22, 1984) was an American photographer and environmentalist. His BnW landscape photographs wrote his name in the history book of photography. Some shots made at Yosemite National Park and those are the reason.

Half Dome, Apple Orchard, Yosemite
photograph by Ansel Adams, 1933

The first years of his life found him different than the other children. He was only twelve when he left the school in order to demonstrate in music and piano. Which didn't manage to win his wild spirit. His interest turned in photography so he left his studies in music.

He was a great follower of nature and he was part of Sierra Club organisation, which had the purpose to protect and explore the natural environment.

His love for nature and photography made him to capture the most beautiful frames of landscape I ever saw.

The year 1952 he was one of the owners of Aperture magazine, and few years later he publish his first book (with Nancy Newhall) with title - This is the American Earth.

Some other books from him are :

Born Free and Equal, 1944
These We Inherit: The Parklands of America, 1962
Polaroid Land Photography, 1978
Ansel Adams: Classic Images, 1986
Our Current National Parks, 1992
Photographs of the Southwest, 1994
The National Park Photographs, 1995
Yosemite, 1995
California, 1997
America's Wilderness, 1997
Ansel Adams: The Spirit of Wild Places, 2005

As you can see, every book of his published work talks about nature, national parks, of course, Yosemite, and his thoughts about how can we keep this beauty alive.
And this is known because of many of his photos and books published after his sudden death (22 April 1984 - Heart attack).
Furthermore, you can find a group of three manuals (and if you are a photographer or want to be, or even you just like photography, you MUST read)

The Camera, 1995. ISBN 0-8212-2184-1
The Negative, 1995. ISBN 0-8212-2186-8
The Print, 1995. ISBN 0-8212-2187-6

If his technique was not so high, he would not be able to react so directly to the rapid pace of rotation of conditions in a landscape.

and a book with examples

Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs ISBN 0-8212-1750-X

If we have to write 10 titles for his work, sould be like this :

His love for nature ignited his hometown of California
He could be piano player
His art of framing was his innovation
His photographs were sharp and straight
He was a genius in the technical part, so he was advised by Polaroid and Hasselblad
Henri Cartier-Bresson was one of his non-friends of Adams.

The world collapses and all they find to photograph Adams and Weston are stones and trees. Henri Cartier-Bresson
He was a defender and lover of wildlife.
He was making his photographs high res wallpapers
He gained a "bigger sense of colour" through his black & white photos
His virtuosity rewarded him economically at an early age