10-23-2021, 11:05 AM
Yosemite in Time by Mark Kleet, Rebecca Solnit and Byron White
The full title for the book is Yosemite in Time: Ice Ages Tree Clocks Ghost Rivers.
On the face of it, Yosemite in Time is a picture book that is right up my alley. Mark Kleet and Byron White are photographers who specialize in rephotography. They specialize in finding places where historic photographs have been take in the past and taking the same photographs. Kleet and White find out the time and date when the photographs were taken as well so they can approximate the same lighting conditions. If the early photographer has taken two different views from the same spot or near to the same spot, Kleet and White photograph a panorama to connect the two views. Or in some cases three views.
The goal for the book was to rephotograph the photographs of Eadward Muybridge done in 1872. During the process they realized Ansel Adams had photographed some of his most famous Yosemite photographs from almost the same spots as Muybridge. Kleet and White added in some of the Ansel photos as well. They did the same with Westin. It was quite the interesting experiment but there wasn't a huge amount of difference in the photos. The problems is the mountains of Yosemite are tens of thousands of years old. The views of rocks aren't going to change that much. I think the biggest change was tree growth obscuring views. The Merced also changed course so they couldn't get some of the reflections they wanted of the mountains in the river.
The revelatory thing about the book were the essays by Rebecca Solnit. Part of the essays talked about the groups voyage to find the spots and the difficulties the group encountered recreating the photo sites. But she also gave historical background to the photographs and the locations. She talked about Muir, Tenaya, Bunnell and the photographers. Solnit wrote a lot about the meaning of wilderness and how it's changed. She discussed the place of Indians in the so called Pristine Landscape. Much like Imperial San Francisco, Solnit's essays put a necessary reframing on the landscape and history of Yosemite.
The full title for the book is Yosemite in Time: Ice Ages Tree Clocks Ghost Rivers.
On the face of it, Yosemite in Time is a picture book that is right up my alley. Mark Kleet and Byron White are photographers who specialize in rephotography. They specialize in finding places where historic photographs have been take in the past and taking the same photographs. Kleet and White find out the time and date when the photographs were taken as well so they can approximate the same lighting conditions. If the early photographer has taken two different views from the same spot or near to the same spot, Kleet and White photograph a panorama to connect the two views. Or in some cases three views.
The goal for the book was to rephotograph the photographs of Eadward Muybridge done in 1872. During the process they realized Ansel Adams had photographed some of his most famous Yosemite photographs from almost the same spots as Muybridge. Kleet and White added in some of the Ansel photos as well. They did the same with Westin. It was quite the interesting experiment but there wasn't a huge amount of difference in the photos. The problems is the mountains of Yosemite are tens of thousands of years old. The views of rocks aren't going to change that much. I think the biggest change was tree growth obscuring views. The Merced also changed course so they couldn't get some of the reflections they wanted of the mountains in the river.
The revelatory thing about the book were the essays by Rebecca Solnit. Part of the essays talked about the groups voyage to find the spots and the difficulties the group encountered recreating the photo sites. But she also gave historical background to the photographs and the locations. She talked about Muir, Tenaya, Bunnell and the photographers. Solnit wrote a lot about the meaning of wilderness and how it's changed. She discussed the place of Indians in the so called Pristine Landscape. Much like Imperial San Francisco, Solnit's essays put a necessary reframing on the landscape and history of Yosemite.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm