Editing Ansel Adams (section)

===1930s===
====Pure photography====
[[File:Ansel Adams-Half Dome, Apple Orchard, Yosemite.jpg|thumb|An apple orchard at [[Yosemite National Park|Yosemite]]'s [[Half Dome]] (1931)]]
[[File:Ansel Adams - National Archives 79-AA-E23 levels adj.jpg|thumb|alt=A black-and-white close-up photograph of palmate, conifer, and small fern-like leaves overlapping, all visibly damp. One slightly larger and brighter palmate leaf rests in the upper foreground, covering all but one third of the photograph.|Close-up of leaves ''In Glacier National Park'' (1942)<ref name="National Archives 2017">{{cite web | title = Records of the National Park Service | url = https://www.archives.gov/research/ansel-adams | website = Ansel Adams Photographs | publisher = National Archives | date = June 26, 2017 | access-date = February 28, 2019 | archive-date = November 13, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181113025711/https://www.archives.gov/research/ansel-adams | url-status = live }}</ref>]]

Between 1929 and 1942, Adams's work matured, and he became more established. The 1930s were a particularly experimental and productive time for him. He expanded the technical range of his works, emphasizing detailed close-ups as well as large forms, from mountains to factories.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/24185/ansel-adams-at-the-phoenix-art-museum/ | title = Ansel Adams at the Phoenix Art Museum | work = Art+Auction | year = 2006 | access-date = November 29, 2006 | archive-date = September 30, 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230930083635/http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/24185/ansel-adams-at-the-phoenix-art-museum/ | url-status = live }}</ref>

Bender took Adams on visits to [[Taos, New Mexico]], where Adams met and made friends with the poet [[Robinson Jeffers]], artists [[John Marin]] and [[Georgia O'Keeffe]], and photographer [[Paul Strand]].<ref name="Russell 1984">{{Cite news | issn = 0362-4331 | last = Russell | first = John | title = Ansel Adams, Photographer, Is Dead | work = The New York Times | access-date = July 30, 2018 | date = April 24, 1984 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/24/obituaries/ansel-adams-photographer-is-dead.html | archive-date = November 27, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181127110227/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/24/obituaries/ansel-adams-photographer-is-dead.html | url-status = live }}</ref> His talkative, high-spirited nature combined with his excellent piano playing made him popular among his artist friends.{{Sfn |Alinder|1996| pp = 73–74}} His first book, ''[[Taos Pueblo (book)|Taos Pueblo]]'', was published in 1930 with text by writer [[Mary Hunter Austin]].<ref name="Russell 1984" />

Strand proved especially influential. Adams was impressed by the simplicity and detail of Strand's negatives, which showed a style that ran counter to the soft-focus, impressionistic pictorialism still popular at the time.<ref name="Morgan 2018" /><ref>{{Cite book | title = Who's Who in the Twentieth Century | date = 2003 | publisher = Oxford University Press | isbn = 978-0-19-280091-6 | chapter = Adams, Ansel Easton | access-date = November 26, 2018 | chapter-url = http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192800916.001.0001/acref-9780192800916-e-8 | doi = 10.1093/acref/9780192800916.001.0001 | url = https://archive.org/details/whoswhointwentie00brig }}</ref> Strand shared secrets of his technique with Adams and convinced him to pursue photography fully.{{sfn|Spaulding|1998|p=82}} One of Strand's suggestions that Adams adopted was to use glossy paper to intensify tonal values.{{sfn|Alinder|1996|p=68}}

Adams put on his first solo museum exhibition, ''Pictorial Photographs of the Sierra Nevada Mountains by Ansel Adams'', at the [[Smithsonian Institution]] in 1931; it featured 60 prints taken in the High Sierra and the [[Canadian Rockies]]. He received a favorable review from the ''Washington Post'': "His photographs are like portraits of the giant peaks, which seem to be inhabited by mythical gods."{{Sfn |Alinder|1996| p = 77}}

Despite his success, Adams felt that he was not yet up to the standards of Strand. He decided to broaden his subject matter to include still life and close-up photos and to achieve higher quality by "visualizing" each image before taking it. He emphasized the use of small apertures and long exposures in natural light, which created sharp details with a wide range of distances in focus, as demonstrated in ''Rose and Driftwood'' (1933),<ref>[https://www.artic.edu/artworks/82469/rose-and-driftwood-san-francisco-california Print of ''Rose and Driftwood, San Francisco, California''] in the collection of the [[Art Institute of Chicago]] (Ref. nr. 1954.1338).</ref> one of his finest still-life photographs.{{sfn|Alinder|1996|pp=67–69}}

In 1932, Adams had a group show at the [[M. H. de Young Museum]] with [[Imogen Cunningham]] and [[Edward Weston]], and they soon formed Group f/64 which espoused "pure or [[straight photography]]" over pictorialism ({{f/|64|link=yes}} being a very small [[aperture]] setting that gives great [[depth of field]]). The group's manifesto stated: "Pure photography is defined as possessing no qualities of technique, composition or idea, derivative of any other art form."{{Sfn |Alinder|1996| p = 87}}

Imitating the example of photographer [[Alfred Stieglitz]], Adams opened his own art and photography gallery in San Francisco in 1933.{{Sfn |Adams|Alinder|1985| p = 115}} He also began to publish essays in photography magazines and wrote his first instructional book, ''Making a Photograph'', in 1935.{{Sfn |Alinder|1996| p = 114}}

====Sierra Nevada====

[[File:"Coloseum Mountain, Kings River Canyon (Proposed as a national park)," California, 1936., ca. 1936 - NARA - 519933.tif|thumb|''[[Colosseum Mountain|Coloseum Mountain]], [[Kings Canyon National Park|Kings River Canyon]], California'' (1936)]]

During the summers, Adams often participated in Sierra Club High Trips outings, as a paid photographer for the group; and the rest of the year a core group of Club members socialized regularly in San Francisco and Berkeley. In 1933, his first child Michael was born, followed by Anne two years later.{{Sfn |Alinder|1996| p = 102}}

During the 1930s, Adams began to deploy his photographs in the cause of wilderness preservation. He was inspired partly by the increasing incursion into Yosemite Valley of commercial development, including a pool hall, bowling alley, golf course, shops, and automobile traffic. He created the limited-edition book ''Sierra Nevada: The John Muir Trail'' in 1938, as part of the Sierra Club's efforts to secure the designation of [[Kings Canyon National Park|Kings Canyon]] as a national park. This book and his testimony before Congress played a vital role in the success of that effort, and Congress designated Kings Canyon as a national park in 1940.<ref name="Sierra Club">{{cite web | title = Ansel Adams – History | url = http://vault.sierraclub.org/history/ansel-adams/ | publisher = Sierra Club | access-date = March 4, 2019 | archive-date = March 1, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190301140708/http://vault.sierraclub.org/history/ansel-adams/ | url-status = dead }}</ref>{{sfn|Alinder|1996|loc=Chapter 7}}

In 1935, Adams created many new photographs of the Sierra Nevada; and one of his most famous, ''[[Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park|Clearing Winter Storm]]'',<ref>[https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/a-grand-vision-the-david-h-arrington-collection-of-ansel-adams-masterworks/clearing-winter-storm-yosemite-national-park Print of ''Clearing Winter Storm''] on auction in December 2020 at Sotheby's, where another print dated 1938 was sold in 2005 (no page for this auction – see text). Before this print came to knowledge, the picture was thought to have been taken ca. 1942 –1944. An early [https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2008/photographs-n08424/lot.142.html print from around 1938], which was sold in 2008, shows a still warmer tone than later prints.</ref> depicted the entire [[Yosemite Valley]], just as a winter storm abated, leaving a fresh coat of snow. He gathered his recent work and had a solo show at Stieglitz's "An American Place" gallery in New York in 1936. The exhibition proved successful with both the critics and the buying public, and earned Adams strong praise from the revered Stieglitz.{{Sfn |Alinder|1996| p = 120}} The following year, the negative for ''Clearing Winter Storm'' was almost destroyed when the darkroom in Yosemite caught fire. With the help of Edward Weston and [[Charis Wilson]] (Weston's future wife), Adams put out the fire, but thousands of negatives, including hundreds that had never been printed, were lost.{{sfn|Alinder|1996|pp=123–124}}<ref>{{cite news | last1 = Fraser | first1 = Christa | title = Fire on the Mountain{{snd}}Ansel Adams and Edward Weston in Yosemite in the late 1930s | url = http://adventuresportsjournal.com/fire-on-the-mountain-ansel-adams-and-edward-weston-in-yosemite-in-the-late-1930s/ | access-date = March 2, 2019 | work = Adventure Sports Journal | date = October 21, 2009 | archive-date = March 6, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190306044409/http://adventuresportsjournal.com/fire-on-the-mountain-ansel-adams-and-edward-weston-in-yosemite-in-the-late-1930s/ | url-status = live }}</ref>{{NoteTag|In 2010, Rick Norsigian bought some glass negatives at a garage sale and claimed they were some of the lost negatives, estimating their value at $200 million.<ref>{{cite news | last1 = Staff writer | title = Ansel Adams Pics Bought for $45 Worth $200M? | url = https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ansel-adams-pics-bought-for-45-worth-200m/ | access-date = March 2, 2019 | work = CBS News | date = July 27, 2010 | archive-date = March 6, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190306042727/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ansel-adams-pics-bought-for-45-worth-200m/ | url-status = live }}</ref> The Ansel Adams Foundation contested this claim and sued. A settlement was reached in 2011 where Norsegian could sell prints without any reference to Adams.<ref>{{cite news | last = Harmanci | first = Reyhan | title = Ansel Adams Lawsuit: An Agreement Is Reached | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/arts/design/ansel-adams-lawsuit-an-agreement-is-reached.html | access-date = March 2, 2019 | work = The New York Times | date = March 15, 2011 | archive-date = March 6, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190306042748/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/arts/design/ansel-adams-lawsuit-an-agreement-is-reached.html | url-status = live }}</ref>}}

====Desert Southwest====

[[File:Georgia O'Keeffe and Orville Cox, 1937.jpg|thumb|''[[Georgia O'Keeffe]] and Orville Cox, [[Canyon de Chelly National Monument]], Arizona'' (1937)<ref>{{cite web | last1 = Adams | first1 = Ansel Easton | title = Georgia O'Keeffe and Orville Cox, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona, 1937, printed 1974 | url = https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/262584 | publisher = The Metropolitan Museum of Ar | access-date = February 28, 2019 | archive-date = March 1, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190301074428/https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/262584 | url-status = live }}</ref> |alt=A black and white photograph shows Georgia O'Keeffe and Orville Cox wearing hats with the sky and clouds behind them.]]

In 1937, Adams, O'Keeffe, and friends organized a month-long camping trip in Arizona, with Orville Cox, the head wrangler at [[Ghost Ranch]], as their guide. Both artists created new work during this trip. Adams made a candid portrait of O'Keeffe with Cox on the rim of [[Canyon de Chelly]]. Adams once remarked, "Some of my best photographs have been made in and on the rim of [that] canyon."<ref name="Bohnacker 2013">{{cite magazine | last = Bohnacker | first = Siobhán | date = December 16, 2013 | title = Picture Desk: The Faraway | url = https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/picture-desk-the-faraway | magazine = The New Yorker | access-date = May 29, 2018 | archive-date = June 12, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180612112948/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/picture-desk-the-faraway | url-status = live }}</ref> Their works set in the desert Southwest are often published and exhibited together.<ref name="Bohnacker 2013" />

During the rest of the 1930s, Adams took on many commercial assignments to supplement the income from the struggling Best's Studio. He depended on such assignments financially until the 1970s. Some of his clients included Kodak, ''Fortune'' magazine, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, AT&T, and the American Trust Company.{{Sfn |Alinder|1996| p = 158}} He photographed [[Timothy L. Pflueger]]'s new Patent Leather Bar for the [[St. Francis Hotel]] in 1939.<ref>{{cite news | last = Hamlin | first = Jesse | date = December 20, 2003 | title = Raise a toast to Ansel Adams. Sure, he was known for landscapes, but there was more to his portfolio, as these bar photos show | newspaper = San Francisco Chronicle | url = http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Raise-a-toast-to-Ansel-Adams-Sure-he-was-known-2545562.php | access-date = January 20, 2012 | archive-date = October 8, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121008151358/http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Raise-a-toast-to-Ansel-Adams-Sure-he-was-known-2545562.php | url-status = live }}</ref> The same year, he was named an editor of ''[[U.S. Camera & Travel]]'', the most popular photography magazine at that time.{{Sfn |Alinder|1996| p = 158}}
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