Ansel Easton Adams was a photographer of the American West. He was born on February 20th, 1902 in San Francisco. He came from a rich family that wound up losing all their money in the financial panic of 1907. He struggled in school but learned to play the piano and played as his occupation for around 12 years. He eventually got into photography and, using his Kodak No.1 Box Brownie, took many beautiful black and white pictures of the American West. His favorite destination was in the Yosemite Sierra region, where he spent a great deal of time. He went there every year until his death from heart failure in Monterey, California on April 22, 1984 at the age of 82.