Ansel Adams is credited by many as the grandfather, and indeed the inventor, of landscape photography.

He is famous for his mainly black and white studies of the American West, and particularly Yosemite National Park ( www.nps.gov/yose ).

He developed a number of techniques which developed the art (pardon the pun) including the zone system to determine proper exposure and to adjust contrast whilst printing.

You can read more about his life and work in this article on Wikipedia.

He used his art and his skill to raise the profile and support many environmental and humanist causes, including a study of the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. But he also contributed greatly to the American war effort by undertaking numerous assignments for the American military, including capturing details of Japanese installations in the Aleutians.

The photograph of the Tetons and the Snake River shown on this page is one of the 115 images of the Earth included in the Voyager Golden Record, so it can be said that his work is accessible at selected locations outside the solar system, a claim that cannot be made by many photographers.

He also has a mountain named after him. Mount Ansel Adams is an 11.760 feet high mountain in the Sierra Nevada on the border between Yosemite National Park and the Ansel Adams Wilderness. So I guess he has a wilderness named after him as well.

You can discover more of his life and work at the following sites :

• www.anseladams.com - Official webite of Ansel Adams
• www.anseladams.org - Official family owned Ansel Adams website
• memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/anseladams - Ansel's study of the Japanese-American internment at Manzamar during WWII
• www.archives.gov/exhibits/picturing_the_century/portfolios/port_adams.html - National Archive photos by Ansel
• www.archives.gov/research/ansel-adams - Highlights of Ansel's work for the National Park Service

Joe Cornish is a British photographer noted for his large format landscapes. He has had a long working relationship with the National Trust.

He works mainly with 5x4 cameras and after an appenticeship in commercial and travel photography he now specializes in the landscapes of the United Kingdom, especially northern England and Scotland.

He has provided the photography for over 30 books and has now produced several of his own. He also authors articles regularly for many photographic magazines and teaches landscape photography through a variety of programmes.

He owns two public galleries in North Yorkshire, displaying his own work in Stokesley and giving exhibitions of others' work in Northallerton.

You can see more of his work at www.joecornish.com and can buy his images in various formats there.

Charlie Waite is a renowed English landscape photographer. He worked in theatre and television for several years before turning to photography. He is best known for for his "painterly" appraoch to the use of light and shade and his use of large, square format equipment.

During his photographic career he has lectured throughout the UK, Europe and the USA. He has exhibited his own work many times across the globe and has published nearly 30 books, also exclusively of his own photography.

He now spends much of his time introducing his art to others through his company Light and Land ( www.lightandland.com ), organising tours with a group of specialist photographic leaders, all experts in their own field.

You can find out more about Charlie and his work on his website at www.charliewaite.com

David Muench is an American landscape and nature photographer best known for his studies of the American west.

He has plied his trade for over fifty years, beginning by touring the country with his father, also a pioneering photographer. He has latterly ventured to other continents and countries and has successfully raised his son Mark into the same trade.

As with Ansel Adams one of his more famous works was a commission for the National Park Service. In 1975 he produced 33 large murals depicting the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which forms a part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St Louis, Missouri.

You can find more information about David at his official website, www.muenchphotography.com.