Ansel Adams was born on February 20th 1902 in San Fransisco California. Growing up his father and aunt tutored him because of his inability to fit in at school. Due to this he turned to nature and playing the piano. He taught himself to read sheet music and after years this became his primary occupation.  The Sierra Club was a vital source of Adams success in the photography world because it gave him the opportunity to travel.
In 1977 he produced his first fully visualized photograph called the Monolith, the face of half dome which lead to the creation of his first portfolio.  Although he was super successful he would write letters to Weston which explained how he was broke and struggling to make a living. Shortly after Adams created the "zone System" which became famous because of the way it allowed photographers to visualize an image and take the picture and have it match the expressed visualization from the ability to control the relating exposure and development. I chose this picture because it shows that he used slow shutter speed to capture the gracefulness of the waterfall. The way the light hits the water in some places emphasizes the colors in black and white.