Charles
and Olive Adams gave their son, Ansel, the freedom to grow and
become whatever his intellect and talents would allow him to be.
At twelve, unable to stand the confinement and tedium of the classroom,
he utterly disrupted his lessons with wild laughter and undisguised
contempt for the inept ramblings of his teachers. His father decided
that Ansel’s formal education was best ended. From that point
forward, the boy was home-schooled in Greek, the English classics,
algebra, and the glories of the ocean, inlets, and rocky beaches
that surrounded their home very near San Francisco.
He also made a serious study of the piano, which he thought was
to be his avocation. Another rich source of learning was the Panama-Pacific
International Exposition, which celebrated the opening of the
Panama Canal, and contained exhibits and displays from around
the world that fascinated young Ansel for a full year. In 1916,
during a family vacation in Yosemite National Park, Ansel was
given another gift from his parents...a Kodak Box Brownie. It
allowed him to record the wondrous images that he already perceived
in the natural beauty around him, a process that would continue
all his life.
