Ansel Adams

Photographer

Ansel Adams was a piano player who turned his attention to photography in the 1920s, inspired by the wilderness of central California, especially the area of Yosemite. By the late 1920s he began to earn a living by photography, thanks largely to his association with the Sierra Club. In the 1930s and '40s his reputation grew and he spent a good deal of time in New York, advancing his career as an artist -- and working as a commercial photographer to pay the bills. He wrote many technical works and encouraged museums and colleges to add photography departments, but didn't achieve financial success for his art until late in life. Now Adams' photographs, mostly stark, detailed images of the American southwest, are among the most recognizable in the world.