“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
When I photographed it for the above 8x10, the tree only went as high as the one thinner horizontal branch out to the left. Everything above was gone. Then I photographed it with only a couple feet of stump -- now all washed away. Such changes are good to see, such as long Prairie Creek in the redwoods over the last 4 decades.
"Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China
Merg,
Walking around town on my lunch hours I saw images that I would come back with a camera and capture. I shot this image from street level with my DSLR and zoom lens in 2016. I bought your book in 2017 and saw your San Francisco Window Reflections. Your book and images have been inspiring and makes me look beyond the ordinary. If I was proficient with PS I would do more with it, but alas, it has remained hidden from view on a hard drive.
There are two well-known Ansel Adams images from Grand Teton National Park that were taken before Adams did. One is from the Snake River overlook, by Stephen N. Leek about 20 years before Adams, and the other by Joseph E. Stimson from around 1903 that is very close to the one showing the buckrail fence with the Tetons in the background. Leek's standpoint is about 5 feet from Adams'.
Leek was a prolific, talented amateur photographer that lived in Jackson, WY, and made his living via guiding, sawmill, cattle, and was a Wyoming legislator. Stimson was a professional, and worked for the railroad taking promotional photos in Wyoming for many years.
I doubt that Adams knew about either of these earlier images. The Stimson one is blurry, and probably never publicly shown. Leek published many of his elk photos (he had a lot to do with getting the National Elk Refuge started), and he would use his photos in albums for Christmas and the like. I may find out more about it when I re-visit the American Heritage Center, where the Leek papers are archived. Leek's images are generally better than W. H. Jackson's, and many are from the late 1890's and early 1920's, showing pristine or near-pristine settings. One of Leek's hunting clients was George Eastman.
The above image was made in 1994. Like you, it was years before I realized it was the same tree as AA's. By that time, the image was so totally mine in my mind. Same with the above image that is close to Sexton's image.
With the recent roadwork and the tree totally gone with the recent flooding, it is hard to know where it actually was when I visited the spot this past April.
AA has an image of this rock from a little further up the river -- before that section at the bottom broke off.
8x10 platinum/palladium print:
"Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China
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