Cathedral Rock, River View 1861

Carleton Watkins's 1861 photograph, "Cathedral Rock, River View", captures the grandeur of Yosemite Valley. The image depicts a serene river flowing through a verdant forest, with the iconic Cathedral Rocks towering in the background. Watkins, a pioneer of landscape photography, utilized the large-format camera to capture the immense scale and detail of the natural world, making this a quintessential example of the "Picturesque" movement. This photograph, now housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, remains a testament to the awe-inspiring beauty of the American West.