Aspens, Northern New Mexico (H)
Original Photograph Negative: 1958
Artist: Ansel Adams
Original Photograph Negative: 1958
Artist: Ansel Adams
Made on a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1958, this image became one of Ansel’s last great masterpieces. The aspen trees were in complete shade and only lit by the reflected light from distant clouds. The therefore confounding but luminous image is likewise a reflection of Ansel’s mastery in the darkroom and his ability to ‘visualize’ the final printed photograph and to give it vibrance. This photograph also showcases the subtle beauty between the stately leaves and withdrawn shadows that Ansel sought to distinguish, but not overpower. Around this same time in 1960, this image would grace the cover of This is the American Earth which along with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring became a crucial tome of the early environmental conversation movement. Ansel further communicated the significance of this image by including it in his Portfolio 7 in 1976 and it would later be a part of the posthumous exhibition and eponymous book, Ansel Adams at 100.
So wrote Ansel Adams, whose photographs of the varied and rugged landscapes of the region have imprinted upon the imaginations of millions around the world. Beyond Yosemite and the High Sierra, the Southwest was one of Ansel’s best-loved regions of the country.In fact, it was a trip to Taos, New Mexico in the 1930s that led Ansel to cross paths with photographer Paul Strand, who helped inspire him to make photography his life’s work. The rest, as they say, is history.
Sometimes the opportunity to make a photograph comes along when you least expect it. So it was for Ansel Adams, who was returning from a disappointing trip to Arizona’s Canyon de Chelly when he stumbled upon the grove of aspens pictured here. Despite the ubiquity of these slender trees, the most abundant native tree in North America, Ansel was immediately struck by the appearance of their splendid leaves, which the fall weather had turned a brilliant gold. As Ansel wrote in Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs:
Ansel Adams’ rare ability to transform geographic reality into transcendent emotional experience for the viewer established him as one of the foremost American photographers—and conservationist—of his time. Ansel Adams photographs served witness to the powerful beauty of America’s Wilderness, influencing the protection of vast swaths of land in the West.
We are excited to share ten of Ansel Adams’s most inspiring photographs.
