Ansel Easton Adams, born 20 February 1902, was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist. He co-founded the photographic group f/64 and, with Fred Archer, developed the Zone System
The Zone System is a technique for translating perceived light into specific densities on photographic negatives or paper, giving photographers better control over their finished images. He also advocated “visualisation” – encouraging photographers to “see” the final image in their mind before taking the photograph with the goal of bringing together the aesthetic, intellectual, spiritual and mechanical effect desired

Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico
H W Janson, Art Historian
a perfect marriage of straight and pure photography
First published towards the end of 1942, Ansel described the shoot thus:
It was made after sundown, there was a twilight glow on the distant peaks and clouds. The average light values of the foreground were placed on the “U” of the Weston Master meter; apparently the values of the moon and distant peaks did not lie higher than the “A” of the meter … Some may consider this photograph a “tour de force” but I think of it as a rather normal photograph of a typical New Mexican landscape. Twilight photography is unfortunately neglected; what may be drab and uninteresting by daylight may assume a magnificent quality in the
halflight between sunset and dark
It became one of Adams most popular and collectable images, with Ansel personally making more than 1,300 prints. A 1948 print was sold at auction in 1971 for $71,500 and again in 2006 at Southeby’s for $609,600 (circa $445,600 and $763,300 respectively at present-day prices)