End frame: Autumn, Yosemite Valley 1938 by Ansel Adams

Allan Harris

I’ve been taking photographs for over fifty years but since retirement it has become an even more intriguing and important part of my life and interests. Landscape photography is a constant fascination but I’ll turn my hand to any subject.

flickr.com

Ansel Adams  Autumn, Yosemite Valley, 1938, is the picture I have chosen from all the thousands of photographs I have seen in over 60 years of awareness of photography. But why this one, from the many beautiful images that Adams produced, and the legion of stunning images from other landscape photographers that I have seen over the years, especially since I became a subscriber to ‘On Landscape’? The reason is simple and personal.

At my university hall of residence, we had a library. It was there, in late 1968, that I came across a copy of Adams’ book ‘The Eloquent Light’, which immediately captivated me. I must admit that I hung onto it for far too long before eventually returning it, several years later. I had a hiatus from study for a year, which gave me the space to attempt to complete a painting commission that my wife had arranged with a teacher of hers in her home city. The teacher wanted to have a large painting of a landscape, with a blue and yellow colour palette, to hang on her wall. I chose the view of the Merced River and background rocks from the book, as frankly, the view of Headingley from my bedsit window did not inspire me.