Still Life, San Francisco, California

Known for his depictions of a pristine and majestic American west, Ansel Adams broke from the prevalent Pictorialist techniques of the time to pursue a new direction in photography. Embracing a modern depiction of the world with the full tonal range possible in photography, he co-founded Group f/64, named for the smallest aperture on a camera lens, which secured the sharpest focus. Adams, after consciously deciding to dedicate his career to photography in 1930, had already produced some of his most iconic images of nature by the time he made this still life. Not originally intended for publication, it served as an exercise in composition and application of available light sources, and as Adams noted, ultimately acted as a “pleasant reminder of an aesthetic experience.”