Ansel AdamsFor someone celebrated today as one of America's greatest photographers, Ansel Adams had an inauspicious start in life. He was just 4 years old when much of his native city, San Francisco, was destroyed by the earthquake and fire of 1906. That day, a strong aftershock pushed young Ansel into a brick wall with such force that it broke his nose, which remained crooked for the rest of his life. One year later, the loss of the family fortune in a financial panic left his mother disconsolateand distant from her son. Hindered by dyslexia as a student, Adams barely kept his head above water in school. As a teen, his shyness and social awkwardness resulted in a relatively solitary adolescence.