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Adams' father decided to pull Ansel out of school in 1915, at the age of 12. He was to be educated by private tutors and, with this, his father also arranged for him to take piano lessons and to learn Greek. From years of music his original passion was to become a concert pianist, but Adams became interested in photography after seeing Paul Strand's negatives. Adams long alternated between a career as a concert pianist and one as a photographer. - Mitchell Tsai

Ansel Adams first came to Yosemite National Park in 1916. - Mitchell Tsai

Adams was an avid mountaineer in his youth and participated in the club's annual "high trips", and was later responsible for several first ascents in the Sierra Nevada. It was at Half Dome in 1927 that he first found that he could make photographs that were, in his own words, "…an austere and blazing poetry of the real". - Mitchell Tsai

One of my favorite interviews was with Ansel's son, here: http://www.fastcompany.tv/video... -- did you know that the music on that video is actually Ansel Adams' piano playing? We have one of the few recordings of his music, thanks to his family. - Robert Scoble

Robert: I watched that video when you first posted it. Great interview and I do look forward to seeing more from the PhotoCycle series. - Justin Korn

Robert: I like that FastComany's videos don't auto-play. I can open the video in a tab & listen to it when I have time. Fun to see Yosemite's Glacier Point again after 2 visits to Yosemite this summer. :-) - Mitchell Tsai

@Mitchell Totally agree, it's little things like that I like on the web. Can't stand autoplay vids! - Mo Kargas

Justin: the PhotoCycle series got a funding green light (thanks to a sponsorship from Adobe) and we'll be starting that up probably in October. Got some really fun ones planned for that. In the meantime, though, we just interviewed Rick Smolan, photographer behind the Day in the Life series of photo books. That should be out later this week or next week and is a good one. - Robert Scoble