National Park Photography

OVER THE COURSE OF HIS CAREER PHOTOGRAPHER ANSEL ADAMS BECAME A VIRTUAL SO CAMERA MAN, GREAT DARK ROOM TECHNICIAN EXPERT MOUNTAIN AIR, ENTERPRISING VISUAL ARTIST AND COMMITTED CONSERVATION ACTIVIST. A NEW EXHIBITION AT THE BAKER MUSEUM DETAILS HIS RISE FROM TEENAGE SNAP SHOOTER. THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM RECIPIENT WGCU ARTS REPORTER TOM HALL HAS DETAILS. >> PHOTOGRAPHER ANSEL ADAMS IS REMEMBERED FOR PANORAMIC BLACK AND WHITE IMAGES THAT PROMOTED THE ENJOYMENT AND CONSERVATION OF OUR NATIONAL PARKS. A NEW EXHIBITION AT NAPLES, BIGGER MUSEUM OF ART CELEBRATES THAT CONNECTION AS WE APPROACH THE 200 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SIGNING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. HERE'S CURATOR OF MODERN ART. DIANE BRACE FOR LOUISIANA. >> IT'S WHY ONE OF THE REASONS WHY THE ORGANIZATION CHOSE TO INCLUDE THIS EXHIBITION IN THIS AND THE CSIS PROGRAM THINKING ABOUT AND THE FOUNDATION OF THE COUNTRY AND ALSO OF OUR CONTINUED INTEREST IN CONSERVATION AND THE UNITED STATES DISCOVERY ANSEL ADAMS TRACKS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PHOTOGRAPHER'S UNIQUE STYLE AND INFLUENCE FROM HIS FIRST VISIT TO YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK IN 1916. >> WHEN HE WAS 14 YEARS OLD, HE BACKED HIS FAMILY TO TAKE HIM TO YOSEMITE. >> AND HIS FATHER BROUGHT HIM A CALL TO BROWNIE CAMERA. >> SO HE STARTED THERE AND TOOK HIS FIRST PHOTOGRAPHS AND THEN HE TAUGHT HIMSELF HOW TO DEVELOP AND PRINT THOSE PHOTOGRAPHS. >> HE RETURNED TO MONEY EVERY YEAR AFTER THAT. BUT HIS CONNECTION TO THE SIERRA CLUB WAS A TURNING POINT. HIS TRAJECTORY AS AN ADVOCATE FOR NATIONAL PARKS AND THEIR CONSERVATION. >> BEFORE BEING THAT, THE CONSERVATION GROUP THAT WE NOW WAS IT LIKE A MOUNTAINEERING HIKING CLUB WHO ARE PEOPLE 2 WEEKS TO STAY IN NATURE SPACES IN WASN'T IT ALSO WASN'T A SMALL GROUP, APPARENTLY ABOUT 200 INDIVIDUALS, ONE TO LINK HAMED. AND HOW WILL THIS EXPERIENCE IS THAT CLEARLY YOU FLYNN'S TO ADAMS LOVE FOR NATURE AND HIS INTEREST AND CREATING ALL THIS TALK ABOUT CONSERVATION PHOTOGRAPHY. >> THERE'S GROWING REPUTATION AS A PHOTOGRAPHER AND A MARKETER CAUGHT THE EYE OF SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, HAROLD BAUCUS, WHO TASK ADAMS IN 1941. WITH PRODUCING PHOTOGRAPHIC MURALS OF NATIONAL PARKS AND OTHER NOTABLE AMERICAN LANDSCAPES. >> HE CONVINCED THEM THAT HE HAD TO BETTER IT HAVE A TRIP THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM, INCLUDING THE AND THUS THE RESERVATIONS, EVERYTHING THAT THE DEAL I MANAGED AND HE SUCCESSFULLY HIA CHIEF BAD IN TOOK A LOT OF GREAT PHOTOS THAT YOU SEE HERE. BUT WORLD WAR 2 STARTED. SO HE NEVER WAS ABLE TO MAKE THE PHOTOGRAPH AT THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEAR OPHIR DIDIO. I. >> THROUGH THESE EXPERIENCES, ADAMS FORGE A VISUAL LANGUAGE THAT DEFINED HIS CAREER AND CEMENTED HIS ROLE AS AN ADVOCATE FOR LANDSCAPES IN THE UNITED STATES. BUT HIS IMAGES HAVE THE CONSEQUENCE OF REINFORCING THE MYTH, THE PRISTINE WILDERNESS POPULARIZED BY ADAMS IDLE. JOHN, YOU ARE THAT LED TO THE EXPULSION OF NATIVE AMERICANS FROM AMERICA'S NATIONAL PARK LAND. >> SOMETHING THAT I BROUGHT TO THIS EXHIBITION IS THAT I INCLUDED A FEW TAX PANELS. ONE OF THEM IS RELATED TO THIS POINT OF THE NATIONAL PARKS THAT EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE VERY IMPORTANT IN TERMS OF CONSERVATION FOR DIFFERENT SPECIES. I THINK I MIGHT BE WORSE TO THINK ABOUT WHAT IT TOOK TO CREATE THE NATIONAL PARKS AND THE OLD THE FOREST AND SOMETIMES VIOLENT DISPLACEMENT OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE WHO ALREADY LIVE AND TAKE CARE OF THOSE PLANS. >> TO BE CLEAR. >> THE PROCESS OF REMOVING INDIGENOUS PEOPLE FROM NATIONAL PARKS HAVE BEGUN YEARS BEFORE ADAMS WAS EVEN BORN. >> AND WHILE ADAMS DID NOT SHY AWAY FROM CONTROVERSY, HE DIDN'T OPPOSE THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICES POLICIES REGARDING THE REMOVAL OF NATIVE AMERICANS FROM YOSEMITE OR ANY OTHER NATIONAL PARK. >> I'M A HISTORIAN SO THAT'S SOMETHING THAT I ONE TO 2 HIGHLIGHT WHEN WE THINK ABOUT THIS, THIS BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPES THAT THEY WERE NOT ON INHABIT. IT. THEY WERE NOT THEY WERE THEY HAD BEEN TAKING CARE OF FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS BEFORE. >> IT'S AN ASPECT OF ANSEL ADAMS STORY YOU'LL ONLY HEAR AT THE BAKER MUSEUM. WHILE THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE USED TO HAVE SIGNAGE ACKNOWLEDGING THE PRESENCE AND ULTIMATE REMOVAL OF INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS FROM OUR NATIONAL PARKS. THAT VERBIAGE HAS NOW BEEN REMOVED PURSUANT TO AN EXECUTIVE ORDER SIGNED BY PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP IN MARCH OF LAST YEAR. DIRECTING THE PARK SERVICE TO REMOVE PUBLIC CONTENT THAT INAPPROPRIATELY DISPARAGES AMERICANS PAST AND PRESENT. >> AND WE'RE JOINED NOW BY WGCU ART REPORTER TOM HALL. THANK YOU, TOM. AND SUCH A FASCINATING STORY. WONDERED CONGRESS SET UP THE FIRST NATIONAL PARK. >> IT WAS MARCH FIRST 18 72. >> THAT'S THE DATE. THE PRESIDENT ULYSSES S GRANT SIGNED THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK PROTECTION ACT INTO LAW. YELLOWSTONE WAS AHEAD OF ITS TIME. IT TOOK ALMOST 20 YEARS FOR CONGRESS TO ESTABLISH SEQUOIA AND YOSEMITE AND GENERAL GRANT NATIONAL PARKS IN CALIFORNIA. SINCE THEN, HOWEVER, THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE IS SET ASIDE 420 SITES AROUND THE UNITED STATES AS NATIONALLY SIGNIFICANT FOR THEIR NATURAL AND CULTURAL QUALITIES. >> AND TOM, WHY DID THE GOVERNMENT FEELS THAT IT HAD TO REMOVE NATIVE AMERICANS FROM THESE PIECES OF LAND. YOU KNOW, MIKE, ORIGINALLY. >> CONSERVATION IS LIKE JOHN JAMES, AUDUBON HENRY DAVID THOREAU AND WESTERN ARTIST GEORGE CATLIN ACTUALLY WANTED THE NATIONAL PARKS TO PROTECT NOT ONLY THE LANDSCAPE AND THE ANIMALS, BUT ALL OF THE INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS THAT HAD LIVED THERE FOR CENTURIES. BUT BY 18, 72 THAT THINKING HAS CHANGED IN WRITERS LIKE JOHN, YOU ARE CONVINCED THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE THAT WHAT PEOPLE REALLY WANTED WERE PRISTINE, VISTAS, DEVOID OF HUMANS, ESPECIALLY INDIGENOUS PEOPLE. SADLY, THERE WAS A RACIAL ASPECT TO MUELLER'S ADVOCATES SAY. THAT SAID IT'S IMPORTANT TO BEAR IN MIND THAT ANSEL ADAMS IS ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT FIGURES IN NATURE, CONSERVANCY AND LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY. THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER. HE USES PHOTOGRAPHY AS A TOOL TO RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT THE BEAUTY AND FRAGILITY OF THE NATURAL WORLD IN AN EFFORT TO PROTECT WILD SPACES FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS. SO THAT'S THE TAKEAWAY THAT PEOPLE SHOULD WALK OUT OF THAT