 On April 10 , 1927 , Wright hiked with Adams , Virginia Best , Charles Michael and another photographer , Arnold Williams , to a rocky perch high above Yosemite Valley called the " Diving Board " . There , Adams took Monolith , the Face of Half Dome , which Mary Street Alinder called Adams 's " most significant photograph " because it was a triumph of visualization showing " extreme manipulation of tonal values " . This photo set Adams on the path of becoming America 's most well @-@ known photographer . Adams called the excursion a " personally historic moment in my photographic career . " 
