Ansel Adams was born in San Francisco, California. He was serious about piano and pursue it as a career, but when a family trip to Yosemite National Park in 1916, he was fascinated with overwhelming nature then began to photograph.
In 1930, he met photographer Paul Strand who impact him in a big way to change his style to straight photography.
In 1932, Adams co-founded Group f/64 with Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham and others, which brought the new West Coast vision of straight photography.
He joined the Sierra Club, which devoted to protecting the wilderness of the Sierra Nevada in 1919 and was president from 1936 to 1970.
In 1967, he established the Friends of Photography in Carmel (closed in 2001).
He stopped to make prints in 1975 and co-founded the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, which is archived his negatives and works.

Exhibitions at PGI