Sierra Club Pays Homage to Ansel Adams

When the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts (FMoPA) planned its current exhibition, “Classic Images: Photography of Ansel Adams,” the museum staff reached out to the Sierra Club. Adams’ first work as a photographer was connected with the Sierra Club, and he spent much of his life associated with the environmental organization.

As a 17-year-old shooter, Adams had his images published in a Sierra Club magazine. A few years later he had his first public show at the San Francisco headquarters of Sierra.

“It was a natural combination,” said Tampa Sierra Vice-Chair Gail Parsons. “(Adam’s) photographs influenced so many people to go out and experience the outdoors.”

On Thursday, June 16, the Tampa Bay Sierra Club will host a social mixer and tour of "Classic Images” at FMoP. The event is open to Sierra Club members and non-members. Admission is $5 and includes appetizers and a guided tour of the exhibit. Doors open at 6 p.m.

“Classic Images: Photography by Ansel Adams” comes from a portfolio Adams assembled in the 1970s – images he felt were the strongest of his storied career. In this exhibition, 54 works are presented. Adams himself printed the images for his daughter. The 15 sections include black and white photographs from 1921 through 1968.

“Everybody is so impressed with his photographs,” Parsons said. “They’re so dramatic.”

Hiking, camping and photography were Adams’ passion. And he conveyed those passions in his stunning black and white images of the outdoors. His unforgettable shots of desert vistas, limitless skies and rugged terrain – a virtual travelogue of the American West – inspired photographers, environmentalists and the American everyman to take notice of and appreciate the great outdoors. One couldn’t elect a better spokesperson for the Sierra Club than the great photographic craftsman and artist.

Born in 1902 to a wealthy San Francisco family, Adams – a frustrated pianist – was home-schooled. His father impressed upon him the Transcendentalist ideas of Ralph Waldo Emerson, that he had a social and moral responsibility to man and nature.

Starting his career alongside the fledgling Sierra Club, the environmental activist served as a Club board member for nearly forty years. Adams anticipated the environmental movement.

His works are hailed by the Sierra Club as iconic images of the land. But for him, the American terrain was a just starting point. His photographic genius, along with his awe of the outdoors, made him one of the most influential and innovative photographers in American history.

Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, 200 N. Tampa St. 813-221-2222. www.fmopa.org.