This week I’m digging into the past, and presenting Carleton Watkins. I have always been fascinated with History. When I was registering and deciding on a major for college I was deciding between History and Photography. I chose photography, and the rest, as they say, is, well, history. So it is only natural for me to have a keen interest in the history of photography. Some of my favorite processes for my own photography are historic/alternative processes, i.e., carbon printing, cyanotypes, etc…
Many of the first photographs people see of the Yosemite Valley are those done by Ansel Adams. Indeed, they are very beautiful photographs of a very beautiful place, and still rank among my most favorite photographs. I recall the first time I saw a Carleton Watkins photograph in my History of Photography class in college, I thought I was looking at an Ansel Adams photograph.
After moving to San Jose from New York, and later moved to San Francisco, Watkins began photographing the Yosemite Valley as official photographer for the California State Geological Survey, using both a mammoth camera and a stereo camera.
Maybe it’s from my fascination with history, or my affinity for the aesthetic of an albumen print from a wet plate collodion negative, but Watkins photographs of Yosemite, specifically, and other photographs, his photographs have surpassed those of Adams for me, in terms of who I prefer.
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