A Adams, Ansel 20 Adams was born in San Francisco, in 1902. His childhood love of nature never left him, although his career was originally marked out as a pianist. Photography gave a much needed structure and discipline to his life and he enjoyed success with his images of the High Sierras. Adams met and was influenced by Paul Strand and Edward Weston, forming the highly influential Group f/64 with Weston in 1932. Adams's technical mastery was legendary. He systematised a method to use the science of sensitometry (the study and measurement of light- sensitive materials) in the service of creative, expressive photography (visualisation) and the Zone System. Adams was consultant to the Polaroid Corporation and an ardent conservationist. He died in 1984. Monolith, the Face of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California, 1927. see Zone System 270