LIFE USA TODAY z FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2019z 3D
There probably isn’t a photographer
out there that Ansel Adams hasn’t influ-
enced.
At least that’s what Pete Souza, chief
official White House photographer for
President Barack Obama, thinks.
Souza, who wrote the foreword for
Adams’ new book “Ansel Adams’ Yo-
semite: The Special Edition Prints,”out
Tuesday, told USA TODAY a trip to Yo-
semite National Park led him to “make
believe” he was Adams.
“Never in my imagination would I
ever have imagined that someday I
would be writing a foreword to an Ansel
Adams book,” Souza says. “He’s a giant.”
The new book includes photographs
arranged in a sequence selected by Ad-
ams before he died in 1984. The focus of
the sequence is Yosemite National Park,
where Adams spent a great deal of time.
Adams is known for his black-and-
white landscape photography and as an
environmentalist.
Michael Adams, son of Ansel Adams,
told USA TODAY that the photographer
first visited the park when he was 14, in
1916.
“He went back every year of his life
thereafter. He met his wife-to-be in Yo-
semite in 1921,” Michael Adams says.
“He lived there off and on, part time and
full time for many of those years. He en-
joyed all of the seasons in Yosemite, and
it was ‘home’ for many years.”
Michael Adams was born in Yosemite
in 1933. Now, he visits multiple times
each year.
In the book, readers can see how
much Yosemite meant to the photogra-
phy icon.
“He was so committed to this one na-
tional park, and I think that in the book
you get a great sense of how much Yo-
semite meant to him and was a part of
him,” Souza says.
While Souza never met Adams, he
wrote in the forward foreword that he
and his friends became obsessed with
Adams’ craftsmanship and precision.
They tried their best to emulate his
framing and composition.
Michael Adams says that the appeal
of his father’s photographs is universal
and continues today.
This particular sequence of photos
has never been published in book form
until now.
“He would be thrilled to have all of his
special edition prints both formally rec-
ognized and all published in one book,”
Alan Ross, Adams’ darkroom assistant,
told USA TODAY.
According to the book jacket, Adams
initially selected eight photographs in
the late 1950s of Yosemite to offer to
park visitors as affordable souvenirs to
inspire others to have a respect for na-
ture that he felt himself.
He continued adding to that collec-
tion over the decades.
While Adams spent time at Yosemite
throughout his life, Souza has been only
once: He visited with the Obama family
in 2016, a century after Adams first vis-
ited himself.
“It’s a little overwhelming because
Ansel spent so much time there and was
there for different seasons and the lightwas right, and I was there for two days,”
Souza says.
Souza spent the trip taking in the
beauty of Yosemite and imagining Ad-ams walking the same trails he was and
setting up his big tripod to get the right
shot.
While there, he used his digital cam-
era on a black-and-white setting while
hiking with the Obamas.
“So I could make believe I was Ansel
Adams,” Souza says.BOOKS
‘Yosemite’ captures Adams’ muse
Morgan Hines
USA TODAY
Moon and Half Dome, 1960Cathedral Peak and Lake, circa 1938
ANSEL ADAMS PHOTOS/THE ANSEL ADAMS PUBLISHING RIGHTS TRUSTSequoia Roots, circa 1950El Capitan, Cliffs and Tree, Winter,
circa 1940Upper Yosemite Fall and Apple
Blossoms, circa 1945One of the last things anyone wants
to see after entering a hotel room is a
creepy, crawly bedbug– or to wake up
with bedbug bites.
Bedbugs are tiny insects about the
size of an apple seed. Adult bedbugs are
oval, reddish-brown and flat. Younger
ones can be difficult to see because
they’re so small.
And there’s a reason they’re called
bedbugs: They like to lurk during the
daytime where people sleep and feed on
themat night (bed bugs feed on both
human and animal blood). The insects
can be found in a host of places from
mattresses to bedding to cracks in furni-
ture to under carpeting and more.
Bedbugs can be found worldwide,
per the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, and are not a reflection on
the cleanliness of any accommodation
(so, yes, even a five-star hotel can have
bedbugs). They don’t spread disease nor
are dangerous, but allergic reactions to
bites could require a doctor visit.
The bites look like mosquito or flea
bites, with a swollen, red spot that could
itch or hurt. They could present ran-
domly as well as in a straight line. Some
people might not have any adverse reac-
tion to the bites, but others could see
swelling.How do I look for bedbugs
in my hotel room?Make this a priority.
The University of Minnesotarecom-
mends looking at the edging and seams
of mattresses and box springs, as well as
a bed’s headboard. You should also
check out the furniture near the bed,
cracks in night stands as well as behind
picture frames.
“If you think your hotel bed has bed-
bugs, you can either check your bed
yourself, looking for small blood spots or
small blood smearson the sheets and
strip the bed and check under the mat-tress seams or ask the manager to orga-
nize for the housekeeper to do it for you,”
Maureen Spencer, travel blogger, told
USA TODAY. “Take photos of any evi-
dence you find and ask for a room
change.”
There’s no federal bedbug law, but 21
states do have bedbug-related legisla-
tion, according to the Environmental
Protection Agency, like ensuring hotels
are maintaining cleanliness and that
hotels must exterminate bedbugs be-
fore housing different guests.What should I do if I find
bedbugs in my hotel room?Step one: Panic! (Just kidding.)
“The very first thing that you should
do if you encounter bedbugs in your ho-
tel room, or even if you have a suspicion
that there might be bedbugs in your
room, is to pack up your stuff and place
it as far away from the bedbug-infested
places as possible,” Kristiana Kripena,
digital and content marketing director
for InsectCop.net, tells USA TODAY. You
want to avoid the bugs coming with you
to your own house, she says.
You should also obviously notify ho-
tel staff, but do your best to stay calm.
“Remember – this is never going to be
something that hotel staff wants tohear,” Becca Siegelof travel blog and In-
stagram @halfhalftraveltells USA TO-
DAY. “Actually, it’s the last thing they
want to hear because it’s going to affect
everyone staying in the hotel, their staff,
their efforts in eradicating bedbugs and
also their ratings online. Try to remain
calm and empathetic.”
Also remember that what you think is
a bedbug might not be one at all.
“I can’t tell you the number of times
that a guest just sees a bug near a bed or
on a bed and makes an assumption,”
Victoria Agredo, a hospitality industry
veteran, tells USA TODAY. “An un-
trained eye checking a room for them-
selves really isn’t that helpful. They may
find something or they may create a
panic over nothing.”
If they are indeed bedbugs, make
sure you ask to be moved to a different
room (and not one next to the one where
you stayed).
Jordan Bishop, founder of consumer
watchdog and travel website Yore
Oyster, recommends sealing your
clothes and other belongings in plastic
bags and running them through a hot
laundry cycle ASAP.
You can also use a garbage bag, and
place that in a freezer overnight to get
rid of bedbugs. For non-washable items,
enlist a pest-management professional.TRAVEL
Look out for bedbugs in your hotel room
David Oliver
USA TODAY
Bedbugs can be found in bedding,
carpeting and furniture.
CAROLYN KASTER/AP