One of the iconic locations where Ansel Adams chose to pause, appreciate, and capture Nature “in a box” was across from the Teton mountain range in northwest Wyoming.
Shot by the master photographer in 1942, Tetons and the Snake River was part of a project commissioned by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Taking into account the difference in photographic technology - the equipment Adams used was relatively cumbersome and lacked any sort of “image preview” - it is an impressive and masterfully created image.
I use the word “created” because, as with all of Ansel Adams’s photography, he manipulated his film photographs in a dark room before presenting to an audience, in a similar manner modern photographers use software such as Photoshop.
It just took a bit (read: considerable) more skill and understanding to do so [if you’re interested you can find examples of his process through a series Adams published on film camera use, development, and printing, as well as insight into creating forty of his iconic images].
But let’s return to the Snake River photograph and review some aspects of what make it a “good” photograph:
If you have not already, I recommended taking a moment to observe Adams’s photograph before continuing on…
The framing of the image and the choice in keeping the subject(s) centered.
The juxtaposition of light and dark to both establish mood and to direct the attention of the viewer.
The creation of distance and depth by restricting the mountains range to the top third of the image; the emphasis on the importance and greatness of the “snake” of the Snake River, its winding path from the distant mountains to the vantage point of the viewer covering the lower two-thirds.
The menacing dark clouds in contention with the optimistic/hopeful light above the similarly contrasting snow-laden mountain peaks.
The choice to preserve a caliginous earth leading to a radiant heavens: a river from the depths of Hades to the light of Olympus.
It is a pleasing, threatening, awesome, and magnificent portrayal of nature.
It’s a good photograph.
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Below I’ve shared three images of the Tetons from late in the summer of 2023 close to where Adams took his Tetons and the Snake River photograph