More About the Image:
Ansel Adams made this image around 1924 in the Kings Canyon region of the Sierra. The mountain was a subject for Ansel on a number of strenuous backcountry trips in the mid-1920’s. This one features the peak in the most straightforward manner very much like a portrait, without foreground details, or overly dramatic skies. The image was later included in Ansel’s portfolio, ‘Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras’ [sic], an early fine art undertaking with the financial backing of his patron, Albert Bender. The portfolio was ultimately comprised of work that ‘featured wilderness in which he had hiked, camped, and climbed’ a truly personal endeavor. (MaP pg.44) Dr. Rebecca Senf states the images in the portfolio can be divided into four categories, including ‘distant views’ in which Mount Clarence King falls. (MaP pg.44) This type of composition ‘evokes the commanding viewpoint achieved at the end of the hike,’ a privileged view few outside of Ansel would have witnessed at the time. (MaP pg.46) The result is a sharing of experiences and a democratization of Place that would inform Ansel’s photographic and environmental philosophies later in life.
