Ansel Adams was born on February 20, 1902, in San Francisco California. He had a hard time in school and was educated mostly by private tutors. He became interested in the piano at the age of 12 and it became one of the centers of his life. He was an avid outdoorsman exploring the area around the San Francisco area. He first visited Yosemite park in 1916. He visited Yosemite frequently and married Virginia Best who inherited the studio from he father. Virginia and Adams operated the studio until 1971.
After his marriage in 1928, he abandoned his attempts at a career in music and concentrated on his photography. In 1931 he put on his first solo photo show of photos from the High Sierras. In 1941 Ansels began working for the Department of Interior and many of his most famous photos were done for the US government.
Ansel Adams was known for his striking and majestic landscapes. An important figure in American photographic circles for over five decades, Adams co-founded the first museum department of photography as a fine art, at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1940.