Mirror Lake, Morning, Yosemite National Park 1928

Ansel Adams made this photograph, Mirror Lake, Morning, Yosemite National Park, using his camera to explore tones of light. For Adams, photography was a process, much like painting, a dance with light and shadow. Look at the mirrored reflection of the mountain in the lake, it is an exploration of the interplay between surface and depth. The black and white tones create a stark, almost graphic quality. The textures of the rocks, trees, and water are carefully rendered, giving a tactile sense to the scene. Notice the small details, like the delicate branches of the trees silhouetted against the sky. These details add to the emotional depth of the photograph, inviting us to contemplate the beauty and fragility of nature. Adams’s work reminds me a bit of the Hudson River School painters, artists like Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, who also sought to capture the sublime in the American landscape. But while they used brushes and paint, Adams used light and shadow, showing us that art is an ongoing conversation across mediums and time.