Ansel Adams – Nature’s Best Friend
March 21, 2009
With so many digital cameras incorporated with the latest functionalities, it is convenient and interesting to pursue photography as a career. However, there have been some fantastic and popular photographers late back in the 1920s. One such famous photographer was Ansel Adams. Besides being a skilled photographer, he was also a lifelong conservationist, who dedicated his life to preserve and protect the environment. He encouraged people to understand and respect the environment. Although, the major part of his career was spent for commercial photography, he is also well known for the beautiful landscape he had managed to capture.
Ansel Adams, the only child of Charles and Olive Adams was born in San Fransisco, California on 20th of February 1902. Due to an earthquake that occurred in 1906, he was thrown to the floor and he got a broken nose. This made him a very shy and reserved child. He was extremely self-conscious about his nose and as a result faced lots of problems in school. Thus, after receiving eighth-grade education, he preferred to learn mainly by following his own intuitions. At the age of twelve, he started playing the piano. Due to his serious interest in music, he decided to pursue a career as a concert pianist. However, he also liked the outdoors and would often go on long walks exploring the nature around him.
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Ansel Adams Work -- Jeffrey Pine | |||
In 1916, he was on a family trip to Yosemite National Park. Here, he took his first photograph with his amateur camera. This incident reportedly made him embrace photography as a career. He then found a job as a photo technician in a commercial firm, where he got to learn a lot about his new hobby. He spent sometime working as a caretaker in the Sierra Club, and later grew up to become the club's president between 1936 to 1970. During the 1920s, he spent a lot of time in Sierra Nevada hiking, exploring, as well as taking photographs. He also got his photos and writings printed in the club's official publications by becoming acquainted with its leaders. He met his wife Virginia Best also in Yosemite, and later went on and married her in 1928. They later had two children, Michael and Anne.
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Ansel Adams Work -- Nevada Falls | |||
As a full-time photographer a lot of his important works were published in limited edition collections such as Taos Pueblo (1930) and Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras (1927) along with text that was written by Mary Austin. Yet, his first one-man show was held only in 1932 in San Francisco at the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum. Adams later went on to open the Ansel Adams Gallery for Arts. He always believed in sharing his knowledge, thus he taught and lectured, as well as worked on advertising assignments in San Francisco area. Somewhere in the 1930s, Adams started extensively publishing about the different techniques of photography and stressed on the importance of careful craftsmanship in this field. He later moved to Yosemite Valley and began publishing a lot of volumes that included; The John Muir Trail (1938), Illustrated Guide to Yosemite Valley (1940), Yosemite and the High Sierra (1948), and My Camera in Yosemite Valley (1949). Adams' technical books on photography, which includes Making a Photograph, the Basic Photo Series as well as the Polaroid Land Photography Manual, were also very useful and popular.
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Ansel Adams Work -- Thunder Clouds | |||
Adams' soft approach to photography was changed when he met another famous photographer Paul Strand(1890-1976) in New Mexico. Strand's ideas of straight photography was reinforced further by his association with a group of important photographers that included Edward Weston (1886-1958) and Imogen Cunningham(1883-1976). This group played a major role in the development of photography as a fine art. In 1980 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the country's highest civilian honour. While presenting Adams with this honour, President James E. Carter quoted that Ansel Adams has proved to be a visionary in his efforts for preserving nature's beauty, both as a photographer as well as a conservationist. He also stated that it is because of Mr. Adams' efforts that a large section of nature has been saved for the future Americans.
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Ansel Adams Work -- Oak Tree | |||
Ansel Adams died on 22nd of April 1984. All through his life he was criticised for photographing nature while the other end of the world was going through a lot of crisis. For this, his modest reply was that only by wholly understanding the world of nature, people would learn to aid and help each other and remain united.
Rosanne Pennella
March 5, 2009
Rosanne Pennella started walking on her career path as a practising attorney. She has worked with federal judges and top litigation firms and was one of the most successful attorney in New York. But somewhere deep in her heart she felt a vacuum and was not happy practising law. This was probably because she had always wanted to travel. After a lot of thoughts and soul searching she decided to take up travelling as a hobby. There is a famous proverb that says -- “A Journey of a Thousand Miles must begin with a Single Step”. So Rosanne took a break from her legal career and set out on her dream journey.
She first travelled to Indonesia, New Zealand and Australia for around three and a half months. Here she recorded her experiences on a point-n-shoot camera and prepared a photo album. When she showed it to her friends and well wishers they all recognised that she had an eye for details, as this was portrayed in her pictures. She then decided to use her photographic capabilities and chose to become a professional photographer. However she set a deadline for achieving this goal. She gave herself 5 years of time to become a pro, if unsuccessful, she would return back to her legal profession. Rosanne's a very dedicated and determined person and it is this dedication and determination that made her achieve her dream.
When she started off she once laughed saying that she did not know anything about f-stops or shutter speeds. She took lessons on photography and later considered a career as a travel photographer. She received a Nikon 90S as a gift. Initially, her gear consisted of two Nikon F100 35mm bodies, Nikon D100 and Nikon D2X digital SLR cameras. The lenses include 12–24mm f/2.8, 17–35mm f/2.8, 35–70mm f/2.8, 80–400mm VR f/4.0–5.6, 70–200mm VR f/2.8, and 105mm f/2.8 macro types. She ensures that a level of intimacy is obtained with her subjects. Before getting her camera and firing a shot, she tries to understand and develop a rapport with the subject. Only after this level of proximity is achieved, does Rosanne fire a shot. She believes that only proper concentration and efficiency can help you connect with your subjects. Owing to her commitment and sincere effort and hard work; Rosanne Pennella transformed from a successful attorney to a successful travel photographer.
Her passion and commitment finally paid off. She was awarded the Annual Award by the Photo District News in 2001. she has worked with the tourism boards of China, Malaysia, Costa Rica, Hungary and Morocco. She has travelled and photographed almost all the continents across the world. Her work is displayed in various Galleries and Magazines. However she did not want to limit herself to just shooting and pursuing her passion. She wanted to pass on the theoretical and practical lessons she learned as a professional photographer. She is a strong source of inspiration to ambitious photographers. She follows a very simple motto in life “You should be the first person to be convinced of your ability”. She also advices every aspirant that they need to spend considerable amount of time and energy in this field before deciding to quit their jobs to pursue it as a career.
