Manly Beacon, Death Valley National Monument, California c. 1952 - 1981

This photograph, Manly Beacon, Death Valley National Monument, California, was made by Ansel Adams using gelatin silver. Look how Adams allows the tonal range to articulate the forms. He’s not trying to represent the thing, but instead create a feeling. Light emanates from the peaks and crevices, giving a sculptural quality to the landscape. Adams builds up layers of blacks, whites, and grays, through the silver, to create deep contrast. In the foreground, the texture is velvety, and seems so close you can almost touch it. The surface is activated with light, the texture of the rock is palpable. I love the way the peaks in the background feel softened by the distance, like memory. It makes me think of Georgia O’Keefe, another artist who spent time in the desert, grappling with the relationship between light and land. Art gives us an opening, not an answer.