Ansel Adams, photographer and naturalist, was a powerful force for conservation

Today we celebrate the birthday of a great photographer of the West--and conservationist-- Ansel Adams (February 20, 1902-April 22, 1984).

Back in the 1970's, I was a law clerk for a trust and estates law firm in San Francisco,O'Gara and O'Gara. They were located in the Mills Tower at 220 Montogomery Street. Down the hall from our offices, the Sierra Club had its central headquarters. On occasion, I would wander into their offices to peruse books in their library and admire their photo gallery.

I was particularly struck by the large Ansel Adams photographs that lined their walls. It was due to the overpowering stark beauty of his black and white photographs of Tuolomne Meadows and Yosemite Park that I started joining day hikes with the club around the Bay Area. Next, I embarked on three day backpacking tours into the wilderness led by pioneering members of the club and developed a natural camaraderie with other outdoorsmen and fell in love with the scenic wonders of the Bay Area, Mt. Tamalpais, Mt. Diabolo, Stinson Beach, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Pebble Beach, etc.

My appreciation of the natural wonders of Northern California deepened. After living in the Bay Area for 5 years, I settled in Butte County not far from the Feather River, in a small mountain community surrounded by mesas, canyons, and rugged peaks, aptly named Paradise.

Yosemite Valley, Monolith Face Half Dome
by Ansel Adams

Although I never had the privilege of meeting Adams, David Brower, who was named first executive director of the club in 1952 describes his first encounter with the eminent photographer in an article published by the University of Chicago Press:

In the summer of 1933, David Brower, who had recently withdrawn from the University of California at Berkeley, backpacked through the Sierra Nevadan Mountains. One morning on the trail, he recalled seeing 'this bearded type, camera and tripod over his shoulder coming up through the timberline forest.' You must be Ansel Adams, Brower said to him. They exchanged a few words; Brower told the photographer how much he admired his work, while Adams complained that the cumulus clouds were still too fuzzy to photograph.

Image source (1)

Image source (2)