Editing Ansel Adams (section)

===Youth===

Adams became interested in playing the piano at age 12 after hearing his 16-year-old neighbor [[Henry Cowell]] play on the Adams' piano, and he taught himself to play and read music.<ref name="Turnage 2018">{{Cite journal | last = Turnage | first = William A. | author-link = William Turnage | title = Adams, Ansel (1902–1984), photographer and environmentalist | journal = American National Biography | volume = 1 | doi = 10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1701243 | year = 2000}}</ref> Cowell, who later became a well-known avant-garde composer, gave Adams some lessons.{{sfn|Hammond|Adams|2002|p=3}} Over the next decade,{{sfn|Hammond|Adams|2002|p=4}} three music teachers pushed him to develop technique and discipline, and he became determined to pursue a career as a classical pianist.{{Sfn|Alinder|1996|p=11}}

[[File:Photography during the First World War MH29845 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Kodak Brownie|Kodak No 1 Brownie Model B box camera]], the first camera that Adams was given at age 14 while on a family trip to [[Yosemite National Park]], California in 1916{{Sfn |Adams|Alinder|1985| p = 53}}]]

Adams first visited Yosemite National Park in 1916 with his family.<ref>{{cite book | last = Stillman | first = Andrea G. | title = 400 Photographs | publisher = Little, Brown | year = 2007 | location = New York City | page = 12 | isbn = 978-0-316-11772-2}}</ref> He wrote of his first view of the valley: "the splendor of Yosemite burst upon us and it ''was'' glorious.... One wonder after another descended upon us.... There was light everywhere.... A new era began for me." His father gave him his first camera during that stay, an [[Eastman Kodak]] [[Brownie (camera)|Brownie box camera]], and he took his first photographs with his "usual hyperactive enthusiasm".{{Sfn |Adams|Alinder|1985| p = 53}} He returned to Yosemite on his own the next year with better cameras and a tripod. During the winters of 1917 and 1918, he learned basic darkroom technique while working part-time for a San Francisco photograph finisher.{{Sfn |Alinder|1996| p = 36}}

Adams contracted the Spanish flu during the [[1918 flu pandemic]], from which he needed several weeks to recuperate. He read a book about lepers and became obsessed with cleanliness; he was afraid to touch anything without immediately washing his hands afterwards. Over the objections of his doctor, he prevailed on his parents to take him back to Yosemite, and the visit cured him of his disease and compulsions.{{sfn|Adams|Alinder|1985|pp=54–55}}

Adams avidly read photography magazines, attended camera club meetings, and went to photography and art exhibits. He explored the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|High Sierra]] during summer and winter with retired geologist and amateur ornithologist Francis Holman, whom he called "Uncle Frank". Holman taught him camping and climbing; however, their shared ignorance of safe climbing techniques such as [[belaying]] almost led to disaster on more than one occasion.{{Sfn |Alinder|1996| p = 23}}

[[File:Best studio Yosemite 1920s.gif|thumb|Harry Best standing in front of his studio, {{circa}} 1922–1925<ref>{{cite web | title = Ansel Adams Gallery Rehabilitation | url = https://www.nps.gov/yose/getinvolved/adams_gallery.htm | website = Yosemite National Park | publisher = U. S. National Park Service | access-date = March 5, 2019 | archive-date = March 6, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190306043616/https://www.nps.gov/yose/getinvolved/adams_gallery.htm | url-status = live }}</ref>]]

While in Yosemite, Adams had need of a piano to practice on. A ranger introduced him to landscape painter Harry Best, who kept a studio home in Yosemite and lived there during the summers. Best allowed Adams to practice on his old [[square piano]]. Adams grew interested in Best's daughter Virginia and later married her.{{sfn|Spaulding|1998|pp=42–43}} On her father's death in 1936, Virginia inherited the studio and continued to operate it until 1971. The studio is now known as the Ansel Adams Gallery and remains owned by the Adams family.<ref>{{cite web | title = Gallery History | url = http://anseladams.com/ansel-adams-gallery-in-yosemite/gallery-history/ | publisher = Ansel Adams Gallery | access-date = March 1, 2019 | archive-date = March 2, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190302090843/http://anseladams.com/ansel-adams-gallery-in-yosemite/gallery-history/ | url-status = live }}</ref>