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Dusk, Shadow Creek, Ansel Adams Wilderness, California. -
Sunrise, Cabin Lake, Ansel Adams Wilderness, California. -
Sleet from an October storm blankets aspen trees near Parker Lake. Ansel Adams Wilderness, California. -
Sunset, Wind, Dana Lake, Ansel Adams Wilderness, California. -
Minarets from Nancy Pass, afternoon thunderstorm. Ansel Adams Wilderness, California. -
Headwaters of Rush Creek, Ansel Adams Wilderness, California. -
Aspens near Parker Lake, Ansel Adams Wilderness, California. -
Moonset, near Donohue Pass, Ansel Adams Wilderness, California. -
Sunris over manzanita bushes, near Hell’s Half Acre, San Joaquin River Valley, Ansel Adams Wilderness, California. -
Small stream near Clark Lakes, Ansel Adams Wilderness, California.
The Ansel Adams Wilderness
Peter Essick, foreward by Jamie Williams
112 pages, hardcover:
$22.95.
National Geographic Society, 2014.
For 25 years, Peter Essick traveled the globe as a National Geographic photographer, and recently he was named one of the world’s 40 most influential nature photographers. In 2010, Essick began “a potentially controversial” project in his native California: shooting in Ansel Adams’ Sierra Nevada and in his signature black-and-white style.
Paying homage to a master without imitating the work is a delicate balance to strike. Essick’s results, though, are stunning. In The Ansel Adams Wilderness, he captures groves of shimmering aspen trees and alpine lakes, whose calm surfaces perfectly mirror the granite formations and pine trees above. Quotes from Emerson, Thomas Cole and others, plus Essick’s own notes, round out the book. Essick, like Adams, conveys a deep respect for his subject matter. And he defends his use of digital technology: If Adams were working today, he says, “he would have a similar model” of the latest camera, although “his would probably be better.”
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The Ansel Adams Wilderness.
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