Tutucanula, El Capitan 1861

Carleton Watkins made this photograph of El Capitan in Yosemite using the wet collodion process. This was an elaborate affair: coating a glass plate with chemicals, exposing it in a large-format camera, and then developing the image—all before the plate dried. The resulting albumen print has a remarkable tonal range, from the dark, still water in the foreground to the immense, sunlit cliff face. Watkins would have needed to be an expert not only in chemistry but also in the logistics of transporting his equipment through the wilderness. It’s important to remember that this image, while seemingly a straightforward document of nature, also promoted tourism and development in the American West. Watkins’s photographs helped to shape our understanding of Yosemite as a place of sublime beauty and an economic resource. They are both art and artifact of their time.