Ansel Adams Photographs - Research Paper Example

Fine arts, therefore, were visual in nature and dealt primarily with aesthetic value while applied arts mainly focused on the purpose of such arts and how they could be used in day to day operations. More and more description of art continues to manifest with the most recent one defining it as a reflection of human creativity. At the beginning of the 20th century, the significance of different forms of art had been classifies in to nine categories. These include; film, comedy, painting, architecture, dance, sculpture, music, poetry and lastly photography.

Another variation that had been developed included the establishment of design and graphic arts in place of plastic and visual arts as well as the introduction of other terminologies advertising, television, video, performance, and etcetera. We shall be placing more emphasis on the visual forms of art and more specifically the works of photography done by one Ansel Adams. His black and white classical photographs created a revolution in the field of photography. The paper will discuss the various elements of art used in his photographs as well as the meanings they convey.

Clear definition of the artistic nature of photography will come out in this research. Background Information Born and raised in a wealthy family in 1902, San Francisco, Ansel Adams was a typical teenage boy. His shy and introvert nature coupled with an attack by a hyperactive disorder forced him to undertake most of his learning at home. It was during his home learning lessons that he stumbled upon a book by James Mason that transformed his life altogether. The book fueled his love for nature and soon they relocated to Yosemite National Park where he managed to coin his skills in photography.

Using his camera donated to him by his parents, he managed to capture breath taking pictures of the landscape in the park. It is these photographs that marked the beginning of an incredible lifetime artistic productivity. His first debut published photograph appeared at the Sierra Club bulletin where he worked as a caretaker at the time. Later on in 1927, he received an award for his critically acclaimed image of a landmark in Yosemite known as the ‘Monolith, the Face of Half Dome’1. He claims that he had visually pictured the result of the photograph before he even clicked away his camera.

In his own words, he stated that the image had a distant sharp peak against the backdrop of a dark sky with deep shadows and a brooding form. It is these elements that became the foundation of all forms of visual art. He later on married his longtime girlfriend and musician, Virginia Best, with whom they bore two children, Michael and Anne. Both siblings also got involved the photography and later on took charge of the family business after the passing away of Adams and renamed it the Ansel Adams gallery.

Other exemplary works of photography done by Adams include; photographs of skiing and ice skating as well as sledging, which was used by the government to promote winter tourism. Addition, he also took extensive photographs of the inventory of the structure of the historic Ahwahnee Hotel before it got transformed into a hospital by the U.S. Navy. Photographs of Kings and Kern Rivers used by congress to deliberate for the creation Kings Canyon National Park had been captured by his powerful lens2.

Additionally, he managed to document a Japanese American internment camp, popularly known as Manzanar, through the use of photographs. His ability to visualize the outcome of