Jon B. Carroll

View of Kendall Mountain photo by Ansel Adams, Silverton Colorado

Ansel Adams and Silverton

Silverton, Colorado, is what a person interested in light dreams about. Ansel Adams knew this, as evidenced in his photo in the summer of 1951.

I don't know how to describe this, but a watercolorist or photographer knows what I mean.

If you were to have stopped by Andy Darr's Silver San Juan gallery several years ago and asked why he is here, listen to what he says about light and how he paints skies, especially capturing what one feels in Silverton.

Better yet, look at Ansel Adams's Silverton and Mountain West photos from 1948 to 1954.

The most often discussed photo locally is one he made in 1951 while in an alley behind Reese Street

Ansel Adams

Reportedly, Adams was watching the phenomena of “alpenglow” swirl around Kendal one evening and wondered if it could be captured in black-and-white format (it cannot). Still, the timeline of an absence of snow on Kendall points to a late August / first week of September moment in the few short weeks that no snow is on Kendall. That photo is not about “Alpenglow” but about Silverton. Also, if you notice the shadow lines on the two buildings that frame the photograph, you can estimate that the photo was taken in the morning, probably around 10 am, while the sun is to the left of Kendall's peak.

Adams had just come off winning a Guggenheim fellowship, which he used to travel around the mountain west taking photographs; the work was so phenomenal that the foundation renewed it for another year in 1949. Silverton was one of Adam's favorite places. Adams exhibited the Silverton photo in 1955 when Adams and Nancy Newhall organized an exhibit at the Le Conte Lodge called “This is the American Earth.” Better yet, look at Ansel Adams's photos of Silverton and the Mountain West from 1948 to 1954. Ansel described it as the first endeavor of its kind to relate to conservation at “both the sociological and esthetic level.” The exhibit was circulated in the United States by the Smithsonian Institution

Below is a video from the Adams Foundation of Adams describing his image making process shortly before his death.

Discussion about this post

and there she was in all her glory. I went to church here when I was younger. one of my teachers and favorite people Doug Messick invited me to go. I found God or he found me, I played softball, met girls had a life. in these walls we were safe. we sang together, prayed together and shook each other's hands. now she's gone, burned to the ground.

They came here once. Every morning farmers drank cokes in the small green bottle and watched tourists beach-bound. A man outside wearing Liberty overalls boiled peanuts, checked your oil and filled up your tank. These men are all in the church cemeteries buried beside their wives. But part of them are still here.

Its hard to believe I have over 150k subscribers / followers. Many thanks! Answering a message sent to me “what drives you to take photos” I cant explain. Walker Evans, one of my heroes, described compositions would be screaming at him to take their photo. I won’t go that far – describing inanimate objects “screaming” telepathically, but there are things compelling me to photograph them. Psychologically I’m unsure what is going on. Do I see a composition and tell myself ( subconsciously) to photograph it? i.e. a moment of subconscious thought rising to conscious level? My images are generally oversaturated and of objects in the landscape – not people. I’m a sucker for the old velvia look having grown up looking at National Geographic magazine’s two page spreads of 35mm photography using Fuji’s legendary velvia film was standard. Maybe I look without knowing it for compositions and light that are more favorable to be shot with velvia.

These photos are from the town of Newville, Alabama (pop 558). There is just something about this old building and the police station. I wonder what was the last business in these two storefronts. Why are they so vividly colored? Research to do, questions to ask.

Ben’s Bar, Guernsey Wyoming

This mural in downtown Headland Alabama gets me everytime, so well done.