Ansel Adams was born on February 20th, 1902 in San Francisco, California. When Adams was four he lived through a very serious earthquake that broke his nose and altered his face forever. Adams had issues fitting in at school because he was so hyperactive and possibly had dyslexia. His father ended up having to home school him, eventually earning the equivalent to a diploma of graduating the 8th grade. Ansel taught himself to read and play piano which he intended to be his vocation but then ended up giving it up for photography. Adams also help an occupation as an environmentalist fighting against things like "resortism". In 1927, he created his first fully visualized photograph, Monolith, the Face of Half Dome. This began the prep of his first portfolio. Albert M. Bender assisted him in the creation of his portfolio and he was basically the man who changed Adam's life and made his profession solely photography.
I chose this original picture by Ansel Adams because it is so abstract. By looking at it you really can't tell what it is.It looks like it could be the milky way or even a black and white shot of a storm system. Actually it is just soap swirled around in water. The contrast between the black of the water and the white of the soap is beautiful. For someone to have this much creativity is really incredible. Some of his other pieces are just as good, he really shows that he knows when, where and how to take these pictures, no wonder he is the most famous black and white photographer. I just cannot take my eyes off this piece however, it's mesmerizing. Hopefully one day I will be able to increase my creativity level and take shots that are gorgeous like this one.
