North Shore Photography Lecture Series: Ansel Adams — Environmentalist and Photographer. A Slide Lecture by Lance Hidy

Photographer Ansel Adams (1902–1984), began his long career at age 12 in Yosemite National Park with a Kodak cardboard box Brownie Camera. A nervous, sickly misfit who dropped out of school in the eighth grade, Adams found his life’s calling, and his salvation, in the wilderness of the Sierra Nevada. He devoted the rest of his days to sharing the transformative power of wilderness through his art, and through his leadership in the Sierra Club. Hidy was chosen by Adams to collaborate on the last book of his career, Yosemite and the Range of Light (1979). Hidy continued to be the main designer of Adams books after his death in 1984.

Informed by his first-hand experience with Adams and his circle, Hidy brings a personal perspective to the Ansel Adams story. Ansel visited Yosemite Valley during 67 consecutive years; in his lifetime he shot over 40,000 photographs; he produced several dozen books that have sold over a million copies—including advanced technical manuals for photographers; he taught many workshops; he cofounded the first museum department of photography at the Museum of Modern Art; and, for nearly 40 years he was a leader in the Sierra Club. The lecture is enlivened by quotes from Adams’ autobiography, and by dozens of his finest photographs.