Mark’s Photos- #34

Today’s photo is another from the PCT. I am trying to channel the photographer, Ansel Adams and his artistic black and white photos. Although Ansel was an early adopter of color film and shot thousands of color images for his commercial work, he never used it for his artistic efforts. He felt he had more technical control over black and white than color. Shooting in color he likened to playing an out-of-tune piano as he couldn’t do much to affect the final color image once the photo was taken. Just like a pianist can’t really do much with a melody if the piano is out of tune. As a classically trained pianist, he was inclined to make musical analogies.

I have very little of the skill Adams brought to his art, but it is fun to at least give black and white a try. So this image of East Vidette Mountain, I present in monochrome. (“Vidette” (also “vedette”) is “sentry” in French)

This mountain has a companion, West Vidette Mountain. They stand “guard” on either side of the entrance to the Vidette Lakes Valley, Kings Canyon N.P., in the high Sierra.

Black and white pictures are all about contrast and texture. This photo has a lot of both if you examine it closely. I love the sky and the way it compliments the mountain. Also, the granularity of the grass in the foreground and the deep blacks of the trees in the nearby forest stand out for me.