Old Faithful 1871

Curator: This gelatin-silver print, "Old Faithful," was captured by William Henry Jackson in 1871. The print gives off a heavy mood, and I keep staring at that plume. Editor: It does have an eerie beauty. That's almost pure potential energy just released there...It looks like he somehow captured the silence *after* a sonic boom. A ghostly image... I almost want to call it spectral, like a visitation. Curator: Absolutely. It's quite atmospheric. Note the vast, haze-filled landscape. This captures a sort of manifest destiny romanticism characteristic of the Hudson River School movement—it presents an invitation for exploration. Jackson documented the American West so people on the East Coast and Europe could experience it, at least visually. Editor: Those tiny figures... they appear so insignificant against that force. It reminds me of pilgrimage imagery. Or even a baptismal font—cleansing the earth and starting anew. The black and white reinforces this idea of spiritual purity in nature. The West as Eden. Curator: A loaded symbol, Eden! Think of all the narratives superimposed since... This landscape contains cultural aspirations, technological triumphs—because capturing *that* on film was revolutionary—and, you know, the erasure of Indigenous populations. Editor: Oh, yes. It’s easy to forget the narratives being written right into the land with photography like this. This mist becomes like smoke and fog... a portent or sign of doom if you frame the settlers with such force looming in the background... This image holds so much tension and promise, all wrapped together. Curator: Definitely an intricate visual memory loaded with symbolism, then, a captured fragment from an evolving cultural mythology. It's difficult to just see pretty landscape with everything we know. Editor: It gives you shivers, no? Almost like a cautionary fable… it holds many reflections!