Wilderness to wasteland in the photography of the American west

Authors

Rodney Giblett, Edith Cowan University

Document Type

Journal Article

Publisher

Taylor and Francis

Faculty

Faculty of Education and Arts

School

School of Communications and Arts / Centre for Research in Entertainment, Arts, Technology, Education and Communications

RAS ID

9492

Comments

Giblett, R. J. (2009). Wilderness to wasteland in the photography of the American west. Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, 23(1), 43-52. Available here

Abstract

American landscape and wilderness photography has lived under the aegis of the aesthetic, and in particular under the sign of the sublime and the picturesque, for some time. Ansel Adams' photographs of towering mountains and canyons are the obvious major expressions and exemplars of the sublime in photography. The sublime involves the formlessness of uplifting spectacles and produces feelings of awe and terror. By contrast, Carleton Watkins's photographs of mountains reflected in still lakes express the picturesque in photography. The picturesque presents well-formed depictions of serene scenery and produces feelings of pleasure.

DOI

10.1080/10304310802570866