News from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

http://www.pbs.org/americanexperience

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In this issue:

-- On TV Monday: ANSEL ADAMS
-- Stories to Go: Explore Yosemite with photography Michael Frye
-- THE PRESIDENTS ONLINE: CAMPAIGN '08

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On TV Monday: ANSEL ADAMS

(check your local listings)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/ansel

From the day that a 14-year-old Ansel Adams first saw the transcendent beauty of
the Yosemite Valley, his life was, in his words, "colored and modulated by the
great earth-gesture of the Sierra." Few American photographers have reached a
wider audience than Adams, and none has had more impact on how Americans grasp
the majesty of their continent. In this elegant, moving and lyrical portrait of
the most eloquent and quintessentially American of photographers, producer Ric
Burns seeks to explore the meaning and legacy of Adams' life and work. At the
heart of the film are the great themes that absorbed Adams throughout his
career: the beauty and fragility of "the American earth," the inseparable bond
of man and nature, and the moral obligation the present owes to the future.

INSIDE A VIEW CAMERA

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/ansel/sfeature/sf_camera.html

An accordion-like bellows... sheets of film in strange-looking holders... and a
mysterious dark cloth. Ansel Adams used a view camera to create his iconic
photographs of American landscapes. How does it work? Find out in this
interactive feature.

ART OR DOCUMENT?

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/ansel/sfeature/sf_role.html

People have disagreed for decades about photography's essential nature. Is it a
fine art, equivalent to the other visual arts, or a documentary tool, best
suited for recording the facts? Sample the debate, in these quotes from nearly
150 years of photographic history, and tell us what you think in this online
poll (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/ansel/sfeature/sf_poll.html).

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Stories to Go

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/podcasts.html

Listen to a podcast featuring nature and wilderness photographer Michael Frye,
who describes following in Ansel Adams' footsteps, working in Yosemite National
Park.