Capitol Reef, Utah 1962

Minor White took this photograph of Capitol Reef, Utah, using gelatin silver print. There are all these silvery gray tones with a sheen, almost like a dark mirror reflecting something unseen, maybe even a bit unsettling. You can see how the material itself—the gelatin silver—creates a world of subtle variations. I wonder what Minor White was thinking when he made this. Was he trying to capture the stark beauty of the landscape, or was he looking for something deeper, something hidden beneath the surface? To me, the lines at the bottom look like tracks or maybe rivulets of water—they lead your eye somewhere. Maybe he was thinking about the way light can transform a place, turning stone into something almost liquid. I think about the work of other photographers, like Ansel Adams, and how they also tried to capture the grandeur of the American West. But White's work feels different, more personal, more about feeling than just seeing. All artists are in conversation with one another, a kind of exchange of ideas across time. There isn't a definitive reading, just possibilities.