[Yosemite National Park, California] 1876 - 1880

This photograph of Yosemite National Park was taken by Carleton Watkins, using the collodion process. This involved coating a glass plate with a chemical solution, exposing it in the camera while still wet, and then developing it immediately. The resulting image, printed on paper, has a remarkable tonal range, from the stark white of the mountain peak to the deep shadows of the trees. Watkins used a large-format camera, which allowed him to capture an incredible amount of detail. The laborious process Watkins employed was part of a wider industrialization of photography at this time, yet it still required considerable skill. The wet collodion process, though innovative, was far from simple, requiring darkroom tents in the field, making each image a physical endeavor. Considering the amount of work involved in producing a photograph like this, we realize that images, like any other object, are the result of significant labor, expertise, and time.