More than any other artist of the 20th century, Adams helped transform the meaning of wilderness in America, and changed what people thought about their own land.

In honor of Earth Day, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE presents "Ansel Adams: A Documentary Film," airing on PBS Sunday, April 21, 2002, 9:00 p.m. ET (check local listings). For the centennial of the artist's birth, director/writer Ric Burns has created an elegant, moving and lyrical portrait of this quintessentially American photographer. The documentary weaves archival footage, photographic images, dramatic readings of the artist's own writing and interviews with leading photographers, historians, curators, naturalists, as well as Adams' family, friends and colleagues, to tell the story of a man who was at once a visionary photographer, a pioneer in photographic technique and an ardent crusader for environmentalism.

In making the biographical film, Burns blazed trails of his own through the Sierra. "To get to the heart of what so inspired Ansel Adams, we literally followed in his footsteps," said Burns. "We lugged our cameras up sheer rock faces and hiked the winding trails that led Ansel to his photographic revelations. And they led us to Ansel." Burns' dramatic footage - fluidly juxtaposed with the photographer's extraordinary work - places Adams' photos in their natural context for the first time on television.

Born in February 1902 in San Francisco, Ansel Easton Adams grew up with America's natural beauty all around him. In illuminating the way that Adams became so intensely drawn to the natural beauty of the West, "Ansel Adams" traces the growth of an awkward, nervous, home-schooled boy - from the discovery of his precocious talent for music through his fateful first trip to Yosemite with a Kodak No. 1 Box Brownie camera. "I knew my destiny," Adams later wrote, "when I first experienced Yosemite."

But, as the documentary reveals, achieving that destiny would take time. Early on, Adams found himself caught between his hopes of becoming a concert pianist and his great passion - exploring and photographing the Sierra Nevada. "Ansel Adams" observes his years of remarkable productivity and growth: the lessons he learned from the work of Paul Strand, his indelible encounter with the great Alfred Stieglitz; his physical, perfectionist approach to printmaking; and his relentless dedication to clarity.

The film also provides intimate glimpses into Adams' private life, especially his courtship of Virginia Best, who eventually became his wife and the mother of his two children. The film also looks at the defining emotional crisis of Adams' life - his relationship with his young printing assistant, Patsy English, which led Adams to a nervous breakdown.

-taken from the PBS website.....

Ansel who ?? ;)

PBS? Wossat? Is that like some newsreel service for Candians? Though we can get quite a few US channels over here on Digital TV, I don't beleive we can get that.... shame... VHS anyone?!? lol (",)

oh yeah....sorry, I figured that PBS (Public Broadcasting) would have some international affiliates or something.... If anyone has satellite T.V. then you can get it on telstar304. Maybe the BBC will air it too hahahah.

oh, very droll...... ;-) Unfortuantely, due to the passing of the Queen Mum over here, our BBC service has been disrupted ever so slightly..... we might get it in about 2007. (",)

well hopefully they'll repeat the broadcast sometime, cause there's no way I can watch it tonight. Yikes, you'd think this Ansel whoever-he-is was some kinda big shot or something...

Cool...writing it on the calender so I don't forget!

Oops, bad style on that BBC line.... Didn't even cross my mind when I wrote that....that's why I'm a photographer and not a writer. My sincere condolences too...

OK I've got untill the 21st at roughly 6:00pm WST US. Jordy it understandable that the BBC will be preocupied with the passing of the Queen mum. But I figure things will be back to more or less normal by the 21st of April. On a vaguely related note. It's rather funny that you don't know of PBS. I assumed you would too. Mostly because it's trough the PBS station that I see British TV shows. Faulty Towers, Are you being served, Dr. Who, Black Adder, Month Python, ect. In fact I think all British shows which are shown over here come through the PBS. Except for 007 movies, Binny Hill, and the Nanney ( Funny that! ) Oh well if I can I'll tape it. If somone will remind me I can mail them a tape. Maybe we can trad for something. ( Dr. Who radio show or something. Hint Hint! ) Bsteph

Hmm it just occured to me. Us video works as NTSC Efurope and Japan is PAL. UH there will need to be a conversion. Hmm. Not sure how to do that. Maybe I can compress things enough to fit on a cd or something. Bsteph

Hmmm....my vcr plays and records us/ntsc tapes and pal-europe tapes....don't they have vcr's over there nowadays that handle both types as well ?

lol - even if mine didn't I'm sure I'd find one that did ;-) Dr Who? ON THE RADIO?!? wow, man - that hasn't happened for a LONG time!!! Jeez, Dr Who on terrestrial TV hasn't happened for a LONG time!! Probably could lay my hands on some tapes of it, though..... It's good to see you're getting a taste of our humour over there - Fawlty Towers is just SO funny, and the theme tune to Dr Who (done by the BBC Radiophonics workshop) was ahead of even what the US was doing at the time..... Black Adder...well, Rowan Atkinson originates from not too far away from here (an old work colleague dated his brother! lol) - but don't you guys get to see Kenny Everett?? Dead for some time, but has me in stitches whenever I see his shows! Almost beats Benny Hill...... (",)

They (PBS) also puts up an address at the end of their shows where "educators" can send away for vhs tapes of the program. They usually go for around 20$ U.S. check www.pbs.org although it probably won't be available until after it airs. I'll put up the info when it is available, for those who are interested.