Long's Peak from Road, Rocky Mountain National Park

The American wild runs the gamut from rugged mountain ranges, to cactus-freckled deserts, to sprawling prairie lands. In this edition, our first from Ansel Adams' Colorado series, two different landscapes meet. The snow-capped Rocky Mountains flank the lush forest of the national park, each scene seemingly in its own season. It's not hard to see why Long's Peak is the most climbed peak in the US over 14,000 feet, it's incredibly picturesque. But in this image Adams captures more than the beauty of scenic contrast, he communicates his own experience of the subject, its serenity and drama, its emotional impact.

A tireless photographer, environmental activist, and writer, Ansel Adams captured the wild of America as no artist before or since. Considered one of the last defining figures of nineteenth-century American landscape imagery, Adams dedicated himself to both his art and his subjects. The sweeping landscapes established him as an expert in photography at the time, consulting for multiple camera manufacturers and developing the zone systemó?, a technique enabling photographers to visualize an image and produce a matching photograph by controlling exposure and the developing process. His expertise was not just in his art, but also in his knowledge of the canyons, cliffs, forests, and plains that were his subjects. A vocal environmental and wilderness activist, Adams advocated for the conservation of state parks. His work is a continuing testament to his passion for the wilderness of America.

In 1941 the National Park Service commissioned Adams to create a photo mural for the Department of the Interior Building in Washington, DC. The theme was to be nature as exemplified and protected in the U.S. National Parks. The project was halted because of World War II and never resumed. Much of the project is now kept in the National Archives. This photograph is from the initial National Park Service project.