Editing Ansel Adams (section)

===1950s===
In 1952 Adams was one of the founders of the magazine ''Aperture'', which was intended as a serious journal of photography, displaying its best practitioners and newest innovations. He was also a contributor to ''[[Arizona Highways]]'', a photo-rich travel magazine. His article on ''[[Mission San Xavier del Bac]]'', with text by longtime friend [[Nancy Newhall]], was enlarged into a book published in 1954. This was the first of many collaborations with her.{{Sfn |Alinder|1996|loc=Chapter 13}}

In June 1955, Adams began his annual workshops at Yosemite. They continued to 1981, attracting thousands of students.{{Sfn |Adams|Alinder|1985| p = 316}} He continued with commercial assignments for another twenty years, and became a consultant, with a monthly retainer, for [[Polaroid Corporation]], which was founded by good friend [[Edwin Land]].{{Sfn |Alinder|1996| p = 260}} He made thousands of photographs with Polaroid products, ''El Capitan, Winter, Sunrise'' (1968) being the one he considered most memorable. During the final twenty years of his life, the 6x6&nbsp;cm medium format [[Hasselblad]] was his camera of choice, with ''Moon and Half Dome'' (1960) being his favorite photograph made with that brand of camera.{{Sfn |Adams|Alinder|1985| p = 375}}

From 1957 until 1962, [[Geraldine Sharpe|Geraldine "Gerry" Sharpe]] served as his photography assistant, and they often took photos of the same locations.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Heller |first1=Jules |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ReZkAgAAQBAJ |title=North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary |last2=Heller |first2=Nancy G. |date=December 19, 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-63889-4 |pages=1670 |language=en |access-date=December 18, 2022 |archive-date=April 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240413061135/https://books.google.com/books?id=ReZkAgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Adams published his fourth portfolio, ''What Majestic Word'', in 1963, and dedicated it to the memory of his Sierra Club friend [[Russell Varian]],{{sfn|Hammond|Adams|2002|p=108}} who was a co-inventor of the [[klystron]] and who had died in 1959. The title was taken from the poem "Sand Dunes", by [[John Varian]], Russell's father,{{sfn|Hammond|Adams|2002|p=15}} and the fifteen photographs were accompanied by the writings of both John and Russell Varian. Russell's widow, Dorothy, wrote the preface, and explained that the photographs were selected to serve as interpretations of the character of Russell Varian.{{sfn|Hammond|Adams|2002|p=108}}