48 Ansel Adams Quotes About Life (NATURE)

Top 10 Most Famous Ansel Adams Quotes (BEST)

In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration. — In **wisdom** gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration.

I tried to keep both arts alive, but the camera won. I found that while the camera does not express the soul, perhaps a photograph can!

Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera. A oneness with your world is your film. Your bright eyes and easy smile is your museum.

A photograph is usually looked at – seldom looked into.

You don't make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved. — You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of **photography** all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the **music** you have heard, the people you have loved.

When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence. — When words become unclear, I shall **focus** with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.

Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art. — Photography is more than a medium for factual **communication** of ideas. It is a creative art.

Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.

We must remember that a photograph can hold just as much as we put into it, and no one has ever approached the full possibilities of the medium.

It is all very beautiful and magical here - a quality which cannot be described. You have to live it and breathe it, let the sun bake it into you. — It is all very beautiful and magical here – a quality which cannot be described. You have to live it and **breathe** it, let the sun bake it into you.

20 Inspirational Ansel Adams Quotes on Environment and Nature (CREATIVITY)

“Millions of men have lived to fight, build palaces and boundaries, shape destinies and societies; but the compelling force of all times has been the force of originality and creation profoundly affecting the roots of human spirit.”
Ansel Adams

It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.

Ask yourself “Does this subject move me to feel, think and dream — Ask yourself: “Does this subject move me to feel, think and **dream**?”

There are no forms in nature. Nature is a vast, chaotic collection of shapes. You as an artist create configurations out of chaos. — There are no forms in nature. **Nature** is a vast, chaotic collection of shapes. You as an artist create configurations out of chaos.

The negative is comparable to the composer's score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways. — The negative is comparable to the composer’s score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways.

Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer - and often the supreme disappointment. — Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer – and often the supreme **disappointment**.

“I am sure the next step will be the electronic image, and I hope I shall live to see it. I trust that the creative eye will continue to function, whatever technological innovations may develop.”
Ansel Adams

It is my intention to present – through the medium of photography – intuitive observations of the natural world which may have meaning to the spectators.

Both the grand and the intimate aspects of nature can be revealed in the expressive photograph. — Both the grand and the intimate aspects of **nature** can be revealed in the expressive photograph.

Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter. — Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.

The only things in my life that compatibly exists with this grand universe are the creative works of the human spirit.

Myths and creeds are heroic struggles to comprehend the truth in the world.

“No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.”
Ansel Adams

Too often we are not aware that it is the shades of grey that add depth & meaning to the starkness of those extremes.

No matter how sophisticated you may be, a large granite mountain cannot be denied – it speaks in silence to the very core of your being.

The sheer ease with which we can produce a superficial image often leads to creative disaster.

Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships.

Yosemite Valley, to me, is always a sunrise, a glitter of green and golden wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space.

I have often had a retrospective vision where everything in my past life seems to fall with significance into logical sequence. — I have often had a retrospective **vision** where everything in my past life seems to fall with significance into logical sequence.

“The whole world is, to me, very much “alive” – all the little growing things, even the rocks. I can’t look at a swell bit of grass and earth, for instance, without feeling the essential life – the things going on – within them. The same goes for a mountain, or a bit of the ocean, or a magnificent piece of old wood.”
Ansel Adams

Top 18 Ansel Adams Quotes on Photography (ART)

“In my mind’s eye, I visualize how a particular… sight and feeling will appear on a print. If it excites me, there is a good chance it will make a good photograph. It is an intuitive sense, an ability that comes from a lot of practice.”
Ansel Adams

You don't take a photograph, you make it. — You don’t take a photograph, you make it.

I don't know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is. — I don’t know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is.

The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it.

Not everybody trusts paintings but people believe photographs.

Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communications, offers an infinite variety of perception, interpretation and execution. — Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and **communications**, offers an infinite variety of perception, interpretation and execution.

A good photograph is knowing where to stand.

A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words.

“A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense, and is, thereby, a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety.”
Ansel Adams

There are always two people in every picture the photographer and the viewer. — There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.

I believe there is nothing more disturbing than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept!

To photograph truthfully and effectively is to see beneath the surfaces.

There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.

“Some photographers take reality… and impose the domination of their own thought and spirit. Others come before reality more tenderly and a photograph to them is an instrument of love and revelation.”
Ansel Adams

Notebook. No photographer should be without one.

I never know in advance what I will photograph... I go out into the world and hope I will come across something that imperatively interests me. — I never know in advance what I will photograph… I go out into the world and hope I will come across something that imperatively interests me.

I am addicted to the found object. I have no doubt that I will continue to make photographs till my last breath.

All art is a combination of an external event and an internal event… I make a photograph to give you the equivalent of what I felt. Equivalent is still the best word.

Ansel Easton Adams Short Biography

Born on 20 February 1902 in San Francisco, California, United States, Ansel Easton Adams was one of the most popular landscape photographers of the 20^th century and an environmentalist.

He received his first camera in 1916 at the age of 18. During his early 20s, he worked as a janitor for the Yosemite National Park Sierra Club. During this time, Adams started producing noteworthy photographs.

In 1930, Adams devoted his life to being a photographer. Five years later, Adams was well known in the photography community.

In 1935, Adams was commissioned by Studio Publications to create Making a Photograph, a guide of photography techniques. The guide was positively received by audiences and photography enthusiasts.

Adams established the first academic department that would teach photography as a profession in the California School of Fine Arts in 1946.

Further Reading:

Ansel Adams in a New Light – The New York Times
Ansel Adams: 10 Things to Know – Christie’s
The Surprising Source of Ansel Adams’ Signature Style – The Conversation

Here are the best Ansel Adams quotes so you can appreciate the beauty in nature and work to preserve mother earth.

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Also read:

Top 10 Most Famous Ansel Adams Quotes (BEST)

20 Inspirational Ansel Adams Quotes on Environment and Nature (CREATIVITY)

Top 18 Ansel Adams Quotes on Photography (ART)

Ansel Easton Adams Short Biography

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