Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
April 17, 2002
Documentary of `profoundly American' wilderness photographer
Stirring `Ansel Adams: A Documentary Film' airs April 21 on PBS
By Anne Navarro
NEW YORK (CNS) — Evocative. Stirring. Profoundly American. These are just some of the words to describe the now-famous black-and-white nature photographs of Ansel Adams.
Produced by Ric Burns, "Ansel Adams: A Documentary Film" is a lyrical portrait of the most eloquent and quintessentially American of photographers. Airing Sunday, April 21, 9-10:30 p.m. EDT on PBS (check local listings), the program is a visual paradise of Adams' photos, which captured the wilderness of America and revealed as much about the man behind the camera as the beauty in front of it.
Recognized by his doting father as a unique and unusual child, Adams was taken out of conventional schooling and privately tutored at his home on the dunes in San Francisco. Wandering for hours along the scraggly shoreline allowed his chaotic energy to be used up. He credits these walks — and his father's unconditional love and support — for igniting his love of nature. But it was a fateful trip to Yosemite Valley when he was 14 years old that gave his life direction and meaning. On that trip, his father gave him his first camera, and from then on, Adams was obsessed with reflecting on film the awe he felt inside at viewing the surrounding beauty.
Before he dedicated himself solely to photography, Adams was a promising pianist, having taught himself to read music and play. Yet the competitive nature of the music industry was not for him. He longed to be out among the Sierra Nevada mountains. The program, well crafted and written, describes this longing as revealed in Adams' letters to friends and his wife of 50 years, Virginia. Along with his own masterful pictures are photographs of Adams with friends and family, standing alone on hikes, or behind his camera.
In the compact hour and a half, the viewer comes away with a deeper appreciation for Adams as a person, his craft and his drive and motivation in creating some of the most beautiful photographs ever produced.
Yet the documentary is not a valentine to the genius as it describes some unsavory incidents in Adams' life. Right after the most important gallery exposition of his career, Adams had a nervous breakdown. Suffering from extreme exhaustion and torn between his newfound love, Patsy — a 22-year-old model who was his assistant — and his wife, Adams broke down completely. In the end, he returned to his wife, describing her as his rock, and slowly resumed his work.
Adams was dedicated to the idea that man and nature have an inseparable bond. In the 1930s, in the midst of the Depression, Adams was criticized because his work did not reflect the social crisis going on around him. Though stung by this criticism, Adams believed that he was an activist through his art, an environmentalist of the first order who understood the deep connection man has with creation.
His work is significant not only because he found a way to show how a majestic mountain can make one feel upon seeing it. But his work was instrumental in helping to pass legislation to preserve some of America's wilderness as national parks.
Few American photographers have reached a wider audience than Adams, and none has had more impact on how Americans grasp the majesty of their continent. Producer Burns has created an excellent portrait of a fine photographer who, with each photographic image, exuded patriotism.
Navarro is on the staff of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office for Film and Broadcasting.
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