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Rating: 
Summary: A lyrical and stirring documentary
Review: A moving and very well-constructed tribute to Adams, the film doesn't shy away from things like his affairs, drinking, over-work, poverty, etc. But the film is all the stronger for this. Some of the most perceptive critics and fellow artists give great insight; as Adams himself rarely talked in any depth about his own work on camera or radio. His large images, most of which would look puny if shown whole on a TV screen, are made accessible by panning and zooming. The film has some absences (Adams sympathetic documenting of a Japanese PoW camp comes to mind), and some of the home-movie footage is used 'out of timeline', but overall it is a very satisfying portrayal of a complex artist. If you like it first time around, you'll watch it again and again.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant biography of Adams
Review: I purchased this as a birthday gift for my wife, who has recently picked up photography as a hobby. We both feel like we've spent 90 minutes in the presence of a brilliant, fascinating, passionate visionary. We are amazed at his life and work. In short, this documentary does what any good, short documentary should do: It makes you want to know Adams and his work better.PROS:
* Nice biography of Adams' life, highlighting the role his father played in facilitating Ansel's self-directed learning as a youth, his introduction to photography, his marriage (with its ups and downs), etc. We were able to see what drove Ansel Adams.
* Need I say anything about his work? There has never been and never will be another photographer like Adams. This documentary just makes me want to sit in front of his photos for hours!
* Insights into how his photography and extensive time in the wilderness shaped his philosophy/worldview.
* Insights into how he exposed and developed photographs to reveal what he saw as he took the pictures--his embrace of realism. CONS:
* The television screen is not an ideal place to view Adams' photos. Ric Burns did a great job of panning and zooming to allow us to experience Adams' work, but if you're really interested in Adams, you need to buy some of his prints or a coffee table book or find a museum with a collection of Adams photos. This is not Ric Burns fault--he did an amazing job telling this story. PURCHASING RECOMMENDATION:
If you are interested in Ansel Adams, photography, or even just interested in art and the creative process, this is an excellent film. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant biography of Adams
Review: I purchased this as a birthday gift for my wife, who has recently picked up photography as a hobby. We both feel like we've spent 90 minutes in the presence of a brilliant, fascinating, passionate visionary. We are amazed at his life and work. In short, this documentary does what any good, short documentary should do: It makes you want to know Adams and his work better. PROS:
* Nice biography of Adams' life, highlighting the role his father played in facilitating Ansel's self-directed learning as a youth, his introduction to photography, his marriage (with its ups and downs), etc. We were able to see what drove Ansel Adams.
* Need I say anything about his work? There has never been and never will be another photographer like Adams. This documentary just makes me want to sit in front of his photos for hours!
* Insights into how his photography and extensive time in the wilderness shaped his philosophy/worldview.
* Insights into how he exposed and developed photographs to reveal what he saw as he took the pictures--his embrace of realism. CONS:
* The television screen is not an ideal place to view Adams' photos. Ric Burns did a great job of panning and zooming to allow us to experience Adams' work, but if you're really interested in Adams, you need to buy some of his prints or a coffee table book or find a museum with a collection of Adams photos. This is not Ric Burns fault--he did an amazing job telling this story. PURCHASING RECOMMENDATION:
If you are interested in Ansel Adams, photography, or even just interested in art and the creative process, this is an excellent film. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: It won me over
Review: I've seen Ansel prints in the stores and in peoples homes but I never cared too much about the guy. One quiet evening the documentary was on tv. So I decided to give it a try. I was blown away by this man's life and body of work. I rarely have seen a documentary that has moved me so deeply. By panning and zooming a corner of a photo was a great peice unto itself. There will never be another artist like it. Everything after is merely an imitation of something great. I just decided to buy a copy for myself to show my friends and family. Thanks PBS!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: A horrible requiem
Review: Stay away from this DVD. This DVD is a long somber story with constant dramatic violins humming in the background. It is the perfect tone for a warmovie but not for a documentary on Ansel Adams. Adams himself isn't really present in this film (he has about three lines of text), although there is enough footage available. Adams was a still photographer but don't expect any still photo's. Al his images are zoomed in and out and panned up and down and left and right.
If you want to see a artist at work and the work he made you better buy the DVD Art Wright made with a simpel 16mm camera about Brett Weston.
Rating:
Summary: Worth every penny...
Review: The photo documentary for which all others should be based upon. Whether you like, love or hate AA, this is a well make, moving and informative Biography of AA. Of course is was done by one of the Burns brothers so it has to be great.
Covers the life of AA, is trial and tribulations, his highs and lows. It also covers some of his greatest accomplishments as well as is personal achievements.
MUST HAVE IN YOUR DVD COLLECTION!!!
Rating:
Summary: To Respect and Cherish the Wilderness
Review: This ninety-minute film by Ric Burns, for the public television series "The American Experience", is a thorough documentary on the life of Ansel Adams. Much of Mr. Adams life can be summarized using his own words: "If I feel something strongly, I make a photograph. I do not attempt to explain the feeling." After a short philosophical prologue, the film details Ansel's awkward childhood years in San Francisco. These years were lived, fortunately, under the benevolent care of a loving father who supported Ansel's twin redeeming passions for piano and photography. A family trip, in 1916, served to introduce Ansel to Yosemite. It was a location that would provide healing inspiration for much of the rest of his adult life. In 1927, Ansel abandoned the world of piano performance, finding its complex social realities to be ill suited to his keenly introspective nature. In that same year, he finally found the technical means to adequately capture on film his transcendent experience of light. Ansel was now able to accurately convey a sense of his intimate identification with the natural landscape. The first book of his starkly beautiful photography followed within a year's time. Ansel's significant body of photographic work grew over the years culminating in a 1936 show at Alfred Steglitz's New York City gallery, An American Place. Almost simultaneously with the exhibit, Ansel suffered a nervous breakdown, which partly led to a rediscovery of the value of his ten-year marriage to Virginia Adams. Starting in the late 1950's, initiatives on the preservation of the natural environment took hold of Mr. Adams attention, for much of the remaining years of his life. In the year 1979, Ansel Adams was honored by a retrospective of his photographic work at the Museum of Modern Art. He passed from this world in April of 1984, but as this riveting documentary suggests, will long be remembered for capturing on film his quasi-religious spiritual union with the American landscape.
Rating:
Summary: To Respect and Cherish the Wilderness
Review: This ninety-minute film by Ric Burns, for the public television series "The American Experience", is a thorough documentary on the life of Ansel Adams. Much of Mr. Adams life can be summarized using his own words: "If I feel something strongly, I make a photograph. I do not attempt to explain the feeling." After a short philosophical prologue, the film details Ansel's awkward childhood years in San Francisco. These years were lived, fortunately, under the benevolent care of a loving father who supported Ansel's twin redeeming passions for piano and photography. A family trip, in 1916, served to introduce Ansel to Yosemite. It was a location that would provide healing inspiration for much of the rest of his adult life. In 1927, Ansel abandoned the world of piano performance, finding its complex social realities to be ill suited to his keenly introspective nature. In that same year, he finally found the technical means to adequately capture on film his transcendent experience of light. Ansel was now able to accurately convey a sense of his intimate identification with the natural landscape. The first book of his starkly beautiful photography followed within a year's time. Ansel's significant body of photographic work grew over the years culminating in a 1936 show at Alfred Steglitz's New York City gallery, An American Place. Almost simultaneously with the exhibit, Ansel suffered a nervous breakdown, which partly led to a rediscovery of the value of his ten-year marriage to Virginia Adams. Starting in the late 1950's, initiatives on the preservation of the natural environment took hold of Mr. Adams attention, for much of the remaining years of his life. In the year 1979, Ansel Adams was honored by a retrospective of his photographic work at the Museum of Modern Art. He passed from this world in April of 1984, but as this riveting documentary suggests, will long be remembered for capturing on film his quasi-religious spiritual union with the American landscape.
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