“Yosemite Valley from Inspiration Point, 1865-1866” by Carleton Watkins. Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, lent by Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries. Via Shutterbug, December 26, 2014

Carleton Watkins was perhaps America’s greatest 19th century landscape photographer yet today he’s largely unknown. His breathtaking landscapes of the Yosemite Valley were instrumental in preserving the valley for future generations and paving the way for both the National Parks system and the environmental movement. Currently, 36 of his stunning mammoth albumen prints are on display at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in the exhibition “Carleton Watkins: Yosemite” through February 1, 2015.

via The Tragic Life and Luminous Legacy of Landscape Photography Pioneer Carleton Watkins | Shutterbug.

What a great tale! Such amazing photographs and such a sad story! I find it hard to get up on a cold morning and Watkins travels 20 hours in a wagon with a camera, which used 22 x 18-inch glass negatives. As the article states:

With gigantic camera in hand Watkins set off for Yosemite Valley in a wagon drawn by more than a dozen mules. Loaded with the mammoth camera, a stereoscopic daguerreotype camera, several wooden tripods, crates of large glass plates, and dozens of jars of flammable chemicals; the wagon weighed nearly a ton. Camping tents, food stuffs and other supplies were in a second wagon driven by his friend Trenor Park, the owner of the Mariposa gold mine, who had helped to pay for the trip.

I’d like to see this exhibition. I think I’ll go into NY City to take in this and the Salgado exhibition at the International Center of Photography.