Images Sought

(Photo: Ansel Adams along the cliffs of Big Sur, originally published on March 28, 1980 by the Los Angeles Times. This cropped, smaller image is considered a fair use. Original photo © Los Angeles Times.)

Ansel Adams, possibly the best known photographer in the world, died in Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula in 1984 at the age of 82. But his unique photos still sell well as prints, posters, books, calendars and cards. One of the more than 30,000 prints Adams made himself sold for $609,000 during a 2006 auction in New York. And just three months ago, a new visitors’ center at a national park in New Mexico opened with a roomful of photos Adams took there in the 1940s. Born and raised in San Francisco in 1902, Adams was a concert pianist until he was 28, when he decided to devote himself to his photography. He went into it with zeal and lived for years in Yosemite, then moved to Carmel in 1962. Adams had to support his art and his family with commercial photography, portraits, teaching and editing for 40 years until the 1970s, when he was able to make a living solely from his famous images.

(Video: Ansel Adams: Celebration of Genius)

Louis S. Slevin

In Carmel's early years, in the first half of the 20th century, a general store owned by Louis S. Slevin was a center for life and commerce. In those days, general stores were a combination Walmart, post office and meeting hall, with plenty of leisurely conversation about the issues of the day. Some folks stopped by Slevin's store on a daily basis. His walls featured photos of local scenery, shot by Slevin himself, who was inclined, at any moment, to load up his cameras and hang a sign saying, "Closed, gone to the countryside." Today, his photos are prized by historians and aficionados.