Ansel Adams
American (San Francisco, California, 1902 - 1984, Carmel, California)Mount McKinley and Wonder Lake, Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska
In 1947 Ansel Adams traveled to Alaska with his 14-year-old son, Michael. While there, the photographer took his first flight on an airplane, which made a frightening landing after one of its wheels failed. Of the impetus for traveling deep into the remote Alaskan wilds, Adams later wrote, "I felt Alaska might be close to the wilderness perfection I continuously sought."
Rising twenty thousand feet above sea level, majestic Mount McKinley embodies the pristine nature that Adams doggedly pursued. In the ethereal early morning light captured here, the snow-covered mountain appears almost immaterial, like a ghostly vision in the distance. During printing, Adams heightened this effect by suppressing foreground detail in deep blacks, drawing attention to the brightly lit face of the formidable peak.
Keywords
landscapes, mountains, lakes, snow, contrast, national parks, Alaska
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