Inspired by Ansel Adams

Posted by Holly Irvine January 26, 2025

Inspired by Ansel Adams

I recently traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio, for a family event and realized it was also the final weekend for the “Discovering Ansel Adams” special exhibit at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Since photography is the family business, it was only natural to check it out with my parents.

The exhibit was fascinating, telling the story of Adams’ beginnings as a photographer at the ripe age of 14(!) and following his career and rise as one of America’s most iconic photographers. Adams is best-known for his works photographing the National Parks–exclusively in black and white, since he took his first photos in 1916. One of his most famous works, below, is ““Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico (1941)”. The exhibit had the original film negative for this photo, along with his printing notes, demonstrating the significant amount of time and effort he put into creating the perfect prints.

"Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico", Ansel Adams, 1941, public domain

I was fascinated by Adams’ sometimes odd cropping, which would often ignore horizons or other scale references in favor of exploring the textures within his subjects. One example is below, titled “Monolith, the Face of Half Dome,” taken in Yosemite National Park in 1927. Notice how he left the top of Half Dome outside the frame, instead choosing to highlight the striations in the rock face. And yet it’s such a gorgeous and captivating photo.

"Monolith, the Face of Half Dome", Ansel Adams, 1927, public domain

Experiencing Ansel Adams’ work in person and getting a glimpse into his creative vision was inspiring. It has me thinking about my own photography in a new light and revisiting shots that I previously discarded. I’ve started exploring how de-colorizing some photos changes the feel and mood; check out some of my experiments below and let me know which versions you prefer!