Here are some fun facts about Ansel Adams:

• Ansel Adams was a famous photographer and environmentalist. He was born February 20, 1902 near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

• Ansel Adams taught himself to read music and play the pain when he was 12 years old. He focused on the piano for nearly 12 years. He gave up music when he realized his hands weren't big enough to become a concert pianist.

• He was an only child.

• His parents took him to Yosemite National Park on vacation when he was 14. They gave him a Kodak Brownie camera and his love of photography was born.

• At 17, Ansel joined the Sierra Club, working to preserve earth's natural wonders. He was interested in environmental issues related to National Parks.

• He was a prominent black and white photographer.

• One of his photographs of the Grand Tetons and the Snake River was chosen for the Voyager spacecraft.

• He helped create Kings Canyon National Park in California. He sent a copy of photos he had taken in the 1930s (which became the book Sierra Nevada: The John Muir Trail) to Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, who gave them to President Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt loved them and made Kings Canyon a National Park in 1940.

• He shot many commercial assignments, from IBM to AT&T.

• He died April 22, 1984 in Monterey, California. And every April 22 is Earth day, appropriate for Ansel Adams.

Tags: tuesday tips, photography