10 Ways to Be an Undeniably Great Photographer
Most photographers aspire to be great and make images that will leave a mark on the medium. Doing this isn’t about likes, virality, follower counts, or chasing trends. It’s about something entirely different. To understand what that is, you need to look at someone who created undeniably great work and is universally loved by all, from highly skilled photographers all the way to those who have never even picked up a camera.
Ansel Adams is one of the few photographers who fits this description. He is widely regarded as the greatest landscape photographer of all time and is probably one of the few photographers nearly anyone can name even if they don't care about photography. While it may be impossible to reach the same levels of renown as him, examining how he achieved greatness can show us a path worth following.
One: Use Your Work to Impact the World
Any art that has a significant impact on the lives of others has the potential to become undeniably great. Ansel Adams did this through his photos that helped the conservation movement. According to the National Park Service, "Adams' work became an important part of the American conservation movement, providing a constant reminder of the landscapes that need to be protected."
Prior to Adams, many of the locations he would go on to photograph had been presented in beautiful drawings and paintings, but the sharp, detailed, ultra-realistic representation of his photos brought attention to many of these locations in a new way. In 1936, he was chosen as a representative of the Sierra Club, a group dedicated to preserving the wilderness of the Pacific Coast, to use his photography to advocate for the creation of a new park in the Kings River Sierra.
Adams’ initial trip to Washington did not result in the creation of the park as they had hoped, but it did start to move things in the right direction. A year later, he created a book titled Sierra Nevada: The John Muir Trail, which was highly acclaimed. Legendary photographer Alfred Stieglitz said, “What perfect photography… I am an idolater of perfect workmanship of any kind. And this is truly perfect workmanship.” When the book found its way into the hands of President FDR’s secretary of the interior, he made sure that the president himself saw it. FDR was so impressed with the photos that the secretary gave him the book. Then in 1940 the new park opened after intense lobbying from FDR and his secretary. Adams reflected, “I think the pictures [...] did have a helpful effect in getting Congress to pass the bill. But no one will ever know whether it was one percent or five percent, or whether it was entirely imaginary.”
It's hard to imagine creating work with that level of impact, but you don't have to make the greatest impact ever to still be considered great. Creating work that has a positive effect on the world in any way can push you toward becoming undeniably great.
Two: Aim for Enduring Inspiration
It’s easy to get caught up in creating work that follows trends and gains traction in the moment, but making art that inspires others during your life and after it’s over is a major factor of greatness. Ansel Adams has done that. He has likely had more of an impact on a single genre of photography than any other photographer past or present.
It’s hard to imagine a landscape photographer who dislikes his work or has never been moved by it. The Instagram account dedicated to his work is a clear example of how much his photography still inspires the masses. It has hundreds of thousands of followers, and every post receives comments praising his ability to craft an image unlike any other. Not bad for a photographer who died well before the invention of social media.
As social media begins to lose its power and trend chasing becomes less meaningful, there may be a new focus on creating work that truly matters to the artist first, so that it can matter to others later—leading to the creation of new work that is undeniably great.
Three: Elevate Your Medium
Doing whatever you can to elevate your medium is another aspect of being regarded as undeniably great. Much of what is created today does little to push the medium forward, but small things can make a difference. For example, taking street photos that carry empathy and artistic intent rather than filling the world with forgettable trend-based content helps strengthen the genre collectively.
Ansel Adams did this for landscape photography. Henri Cartier-Bresson once said, “The world is falling to pieces and all Adams and Weston photograph is rocks and trees.” In reality, those highly refined images of rocks and trees allowed landscape photography and other forms of photography to be taken seriously as fine art.
According to The Art Story, “Adams was committed throughout his professional life to the promotion of photography as a fine art. In 1940, he helped to establish the photography department at the Museum of Modern Art, later co-curating its first exhibition Sixty Photographs: A Survey of Camera Aesthetics with Beaumont Newhall.” Adams continued to collaborate with Beaumont and Nancy Newhall throughout the 1940s to 1960s on exhibitions and books that helped define photography’s artistic legitimacy.
Four: Choose Subjects That Matter
Ansel Adams’ role in shaping national parks and elevating photography as an art form was possible largely because he chose subjects that mattered to others. His images of the American landscape resonated deeply with both photographers and conservationists, striking an emotional chord that made the work unforgettable.
“Monolith, the Face of Half Dome” is one of Adams’ most successful and highly regarded photos. According to The Ansel Adams Gallery, “Today, the image stands as not only one of Adams’ finest works, but as a lasting and iconic depiction of one of the most unique spots in the American wilderness.”
Adams had photographed the Half Dome many times before creating this iconic image, but none of his previous attempts met his standards. He decided to shoot it from a location known as the Diving Board. To reach it, he carried a 40-pound pack filled with his camera, lenses, filters, and glass plates, hiking 3,500 feet above the valley floor. This pursuit of the perfect location to create the perfect photograph became a trademark part of his process.
Five: Be Consistent in Vision
One of the most challenging aspects of aspiring to greatness is consistency. Many of us experiment constantly, trying new things and chasing different techniques, but at some point, if you want to create high-quality work regularly, you have to find your voice.
Ansel Adams achieved this by rejecting the soft, painterly look of pictorialism, which was popular at the time, in favor of a sharp, precise, and realistic approach. He became one of the leading advocates of “pure” photography. Technical mastery, both in the field and in the darkroom, became central to his practice.
To be consistent, you must have a clear idea of what you want to create. Adams used visualization as a tool for this. In The Camera, he wrote, “The process of visualization requires learning to see as the camera sees. We accomplish this by understanding how the camera-film-development sequence modifies the subject as it records it.”
Six: Promote the Tradition of the Medium
Printing was another aspect of photography that Ansel Adams explored deeply. In his book The Print, he wrote, “In many ways, I find printing the most fascinating aspect of black and white photography. It is especially rewarding to me, when I am going through the thousands of negatives I have never printed, to find that I can recall the original visualization as well as discovering new beauty and interest which I hope to express in the print.”
It’s this kind of passion for traditional techniques that keeps people coming back to darkroom work even in the digital era. An enthusiasm for the roots of your craft can make your connection to it stronger and your work more meaningful.
Seven: Share Knowledge
Sharing knowledge was one of the key aspects of Ansel Adams’ greatness. Through his five books—The Camera, The Negative, The Print, Natural Light Photography, and Artificial Light Photography—he made his technical knowledge accessible to everyone.
On his motivation for teaching, he said, “The obligation of all creative people is to keep creativity moving.” Sharing what you know not only strengthens the medium but also cements your place in it.
Eight: Pursue Technical Excellence
Ansel Adams was only able to share the knowledge he did because of the technical mastery he achieved. His meticulous understanding of exposure, development, and printing allowed him to consistently produce work that was both technically and artistically outstanding.
Nine: Craft Techniques
Studying specific aspects of a medium allows artists to create techniques that benefit others. Adams, along with Fred Archer, developed the Zone System—a method of controlling exposure and development to achieve the desired tonal range in a photograph.
As Adams explained in The Camera, “The Zone System is helpful in understanding the relationships of subject luminances, film densities, and print values.” This system became one of the most influential contributions to photography education and remains widely used.
Ten: Commit to a Lifelong Pursuit
There is no better way to validate your greatness than to show a lifelong commitment to your craft. Ansel Adams took his first photo in 1916 when he was just 14 years old and continued making images until his death in 1984 at the age of 82.
You don’t have to create for the same length of time to be considered great, but having that level of dedication and love for your work is something that cannot be ignored.