Ansel Adams Autobiography Recommendation

After reading through this book again I just have to take a moment and write a brief recommendation for Ansel Adams’ Autobiography. It truly has it all and is definitely not only for photographers only! I really cant stress that enough. It really is for everyone that enjoys living history as well as art and photography.

You can find it on Amazon. Don’t be dissuaded by the initial price since you can search the used books and get an incredible deal on it.

It not only features great reproductions of his best known photos like ‘Moonrise’, and ‘Yosemite Half Dome’ but he also tells the stories behind the photos and that is what I enjoyed the best. I felt like it really helped the photos to come alive.

He told how he started the f64 group and his National Parks tours, but I particularly enjoyed his enlightening stories about how he began in photography and he was so transparent about the mistakes that he made. So often people like to say that he was just a landscape photographer but he explains that when he started out he would shoot anything. Yes he primarily specialized in landscapes, especially our National Parks, but he also shared about his early years when he would take a wide variety of jobs.

Out of the many stories and anecdotes he shares one of my favorites is of his first professional job in 1920. He shot a class picture for a Chinese Grammar School and ruined it on his first attempt! He used too much flash powder and they had to clear out the building and there was so much smoke that the fire department showed up! He then took them outside in the direct sun and took the shot and it all worked out. There are a few more stories that are similar that as I read them I was really comforted hearing them. I dont think that it is just because I am a photographer but just the fact that we all run into challenges in life and is comforting to see how even he had such troubles at times but overcame them.

I can almost guarantee that you will love the book, learn a lot from it and be thoroughly entertained by it.