Winter, East of Fort Collins, Cache la Poudre River 1998

Curator: William Wylie's "Winter, East of Fort Collins, Cache la Poudre River," a gelatin-silver print from 1998. The composition presents us with an ostensibly simple winter landscape. Editor: Strikingly melancholic, isn't it? The monochrome amplifies the starkness, the almost oppressive weight of those heavy branches bearing down. Curator: Yes, and considering the time, 1998, it is worth remembering the discourses surrounding landscape photography at that point, its relationship with the environmental movement and concerns about land use. This river, like any, is entangled with issues of access, exploitation, and conservation. Editor: The branches act as a kind of scrim, framing the river. I wonder what they represent symbolically. The leaflessness suggests dormancy, perhaps a waiting, or a state of suspended animation. They might also imply absence. Curator: Precisely, I find myself thinking about how we tend to visually code “nature.” A photograph of a forest is rarely just a photograph of trees. Whose nature are we representing? Who has access to this landscape? Editor: And the monochrome adds another layer. It pulls the scene away from immediate reality, giving it a timeless quality, or perhaps universalizing the theme of winter. It almost recalls Pictorialist ideals. Do you feel the artist aimed to evoke feelings related to seasonal change, not just display physical surroundings? Curator: I agree. This photograph allows viewers to consider those symbolic meanings and societal considerations. There's a tension there between observation and what we culturally associate with nature— ideas of purity versus resource extraction, for instance. Editor: In viewing Wylie’s winter scene, one is reminded that symbols persist even as their meanings evolve. I find that incredibly reassuring about photography. It holds our changing perceptions. Curator: An evolving cultural understanding that persists despite shifting temporalities—a notion that makes me appreciate this gelatin silver print all the more.