Ansel Adams: An Autobiography

I have learned so much from this book about Ansel as well as many other notable photographers as well. Very well written - easy to read - hard to put away...

While this book is about Ansel Adams, it is also about the struggle to make photography a recognized form of art. If you have any interest at all about the non-technical history of photography, I would highly recommend this book. There is much more here than just the thoughts and ideas of one man. Each of the people that influenced Adams are described in detail, and in doing so, Adams provides a much needed background for the modern history of photography. Adams was fortunate enough to be able to work with a diverse and creative group of people at a time when the art world was expanding into new mediums. He worked with many now-famous photographers, painters, philanthropists, and institutions, and his experiences with them give the reader a very strong base from which to asses these very important ideas and movements. In reading this book, I was able to greatly improve the depth of my understanding of photography as art, as well as improve my understanding of the contributions of a number of other photographers. I was both inspired and encouraged by reading how much hard work and unending effort these photographers went through to ensure that photography would be recognized as an art form. Another poster questioned whether Adams worked with the content of this book to cast himself in the best light. While this is quite possible, what is included does no so much focus on Ansel Adams the man as it does on his main goal in life, making photography a recognized art form. Everyone has personal issues to some degree, and I am sure that Ansel, being human, was no exception. But those problems are just that, personal, and would be tangental to what Ansel saw as the focus of his life. Everyone has faults so there is really no reason to enumerate them in print unless you are attempting to make yourself feel better by highlighting the faults of others. I would strongly recommend this book for anyone who appreciates photography, history, and the arts, as well as those that would like to gain a better understanding of a very creative photographer. Of all the books about, or by, Ansel Adams that I have read, this is the one book that I would put at the top of the required reading list. It is also one of the best books about the modern history of photography I have read to date. I really cannot recommend it strongly enough.

Unlike most books on photography or photographers, this focuses more on the thoughts and relationships of Adams rather than an actual narrative of his life. The result is unexpected enlightenment: the core of the man including his attitudes, politics, and relationships. The reader also finds that he is drawn to focus on his own insights on feelings, attitudes, and creative essence. It is very easy to come a point where one attains the feeling he actually knows Adams although relatively little is actually stated in straight terms about him.

Ansel Adams was a photographer. Everyone knows that. Here you learn he was also an artist, a concert pianist, and a philosopher/humanitarian. Although only the images from Chapter 1 were hand-picked by him, the book reflects a warmth that only Ansel could have put in to it.