Mt. McKinley, Wonder Lake

More About the Image:

Ansel Adams made this image while in Alaska on his Guggenheim Fellowship in the late 1940’s.  Ansel and his son, Michael Adams, were staying at a ranger cabin near Wonder Lake.  Weather was a constant threat to the trip, not so much for travel, but for the prospects of good photo-making.  Andrea Stillman writes Ansel ‘experienced drizzle, downpours, and clouds and was lucky to see Mount McKinley even briefly, [he] was also plagued with swarms of hungry mosquitoes.’ (LAA pg. 180)  The day before, Ansel had photographed the moon rising over the snowcapped summit, but clouds kept a portion of the detailed slopes in veiled obscurity.  The summer sun rose early the next morning and Ansel claimed he made this photograph, perched on a knoll above the lake around 1:30am.  Later research by Dr. Don Olson indicated it was closer to 3:42am on July 15th, 1948.  Ansel wrote of the moment, ‘the clouds lifted and the mountain glowed an incredible shade of pink.  Laid out in front of Mount McKinley, Wonder Lake was pearlescent against the dark embracing arms of the shoreline.  I made what I visualized as an inevitable image.’  (LAA pg. 179)  Ansel spoke of returning to Alaska and completing a book, but it never materialized.  He would write in his autobiography, that in Alaska ‘I saw more clearly the value of true wilderness and the dangers of diluting its finest areas with the imposed accessories of civilization.’  (AB pg. 244)  The image would shortly thereafter be included in Ansel’s Portfolio 1, dedicated to his friend and mentor, Alfred Stieglitz.  At the end of his life, Ansel communicated the significance of this image by including it as one of the variants in his last major project, The Museum Set.  It was later published in the posthumous book and exhibition, Ansel Adams at 100.