A Documentary Film

Ansel Adams: A Documentary Film
Ansel Adams: A Documentary Film
	Adams in the 1950 Yosemite Field School yearbook
Directed by	Ric Burns
Written by	Ric Burns
Produced by	Marilyn Ness; Ric Burns
Cinematography	Buddy Squires; Michael Chin; Jon Else
Edited by	Li-Shin Yu
Music by	Brian Keane
Production; companies	Steeplechase Films ; Sierra Club Productions
Distributed by	PBS
Release date	2002;
Running time	100 minutes
Language	English

Ansel Adams: A Documentary Film is a 2002 documentary and biographical film that traces the life of the American photographer Ansel Adams. He is most noted for his landscape images of the American West. The film is narrated by David Ogden Stiers and features the voices of Josh Hamilton, Barbara Feldon, and Eli Wallach. It was broadcast on PBS as part of the series American Experience.

Production

The film features images of Adams' work, readings of his writing, archival footage and original footage of the landscapes that inspired him. Interview subjects included Michael Adams and Anne Adams Helms (Ansel Adams's son and daughter), Mary Street Alinder, Carl Pope, Alex Ross, John Sexton, Jonathan Spaulding, Andrea Gray Stillman, William A. Turnage and John Szarkowski.

Director Ric Burns shot portions of the film in the same landscapes that were the settings for Adams' most iconic images. Said Burns, "to get to the heart of what so inspired Ansel Adams, we literally followed in his footsteps. We lugged our cameras up sheer rock faces and hiked the winding trails that led Ansel to his photographic revelations. And they led us to Ansel."^[1]

Critical reception

Laura Fries of Variety wrote: “Burns creates a visually mesmerizing retrospective of Adams’s career...the film examines the inspirations and intentions of the artist who transcended the medium to become an American folk hero.”^[2]

Awards

The Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Silver Baton Award 2001-2002^[3]
Emmy Award for Outstanding Cultural and Artistic Programming 2002^[4]

References

^ "Film Description: Ansel Adams". Archived from the original on 2017-03-01. Retrieved 2017-08-24.
^ Variety Review Ansel Adams: A Documentary Film April 16, 2002
^ Dupont Award Winners Archived January 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
^ "American Experience Awards". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2017-08-24.

External links

[1] "Film Description: Ansel Adams". Archived from the original on 2017-03-01. Retrieved 2017-08-24.

[2] Variety Review Ansel Adams: A Documentary Film April 16, 2002

[3] Dupont Award Winners Archived January 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine

[4] "American Experience Awards". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2017-08-24.

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v t e Ansel Adams
Photographs	Lodgepole Pines, Lyell Fork of the Merced River (1921) Monolith, the Face of Half Dome (1927) Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park (c. 1937) Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico (1941) Evening, McDonald Lake, Glacier National Park (1942) The Tetons and the Snake River (1942) Winter Sunrise, Sierra Nevada, from Lone Pine, California (1944) Aspens, Northern New Mexico (1958)
Portfolios	Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras (1927)
Books	Taos Pueblo (1931) (with Mary Hunter Austin) Born Free and Equal (1944)
Related	Zone System Group f/64 Ansel Adams: A Documentary Film (2002) Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography Ansel Adams Award (The Wilderness Society) Ansel Adams Wilderness The Land of Little Rain (1950 edition)