It’s those autumn days following a dusting of snow when Yosemite Valley gets confusing. Is it autumn or is it winter?
Elliot McGucken’s photos, taken yesterday on his return from Utah (boy, he gets around), didn’t settle the matter. They created more questions.
The various ways Elliot exposed Gates of the Valley on a given day, in evolving conditions and light opened additional questions about how a photographer perceives a scene, interprets it and produces a statement.
In some frames, McGucken works the light as presented. In others, he interprets it, painting with vibrance, shadows, highlights and saturation. Ansel Adams did the same thing with black and white.
Adams would often previsualize an image, plan, then shoot and print it later, as imagined. But, that wasn’t always possible in the field.
On spontaneous occasions, he would work with light as presented, using tools (film, filters, lenses and processing) to produce the image imagined.
In this set, McGucken presents both the documentary and the interpretive approach … the image captured and the image imagined.
- Yosemite Valley (4,000′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
Stunning!!!