So who came before Ansel Adams? Joseph Nisbet LeConte. He was born thirty years or so before Ansel, and was taking photos in the Sierra Nevada Range before him. He was a jack of all trades really, photography being just one of his interests. He was a mechanical engineer, so his fascination with the camera itself surely had a lot to do with him picking up the hobby. Carrying the equipment then was a burden, so simply being the first to get images of certain things made his work fairly famous. That doesn't mean the work wasn't good however. Adams himself is quoted saying "Never intentionally 'arty', most of his compositions reveal a sensitive reaction to the finest moments of the mountain scene. It is this quality that differentiates between a mere record and a creative, sympathetic statement." He loved mountaineering. He was a member, even president at one point, of the Sierra Club, a map maker for the area, and played a big part in carving out the John Muir trail.

His work isn't nearly as easy to find as Ansel Adams, and he's not nearly as famous, but Adams met Leconte, and was certainly inspired by him. He was exploring his home and photographing many of the same places Leconte had before him. Leconte's work isn't by any means better, but I feel that it deserves more recognition.(He did get a few things named after him in the park though, so there is that.)