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Why Defend National Parks And Other Wilderness By Philip Hyde

May 7th, 2013

Why Defend National Parks?

By Philip Hyde Circa 1951

Landscape Photography Blogger Note: Philip Hyde wrote this unpublished 1951 magazine article while the controversy was heating up over two proposed dams in Dinosaur National Monument. In 1951, Richard Leonard, who was on the board of both the Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club, as well as David Brower, another board member who would soon after become the first Executive Director of the Sierra Club and the father of modern environmentalism, sent Philip Hyde on assignment to Dinosaur National Monument. It was the first time a photographer ever went on assignment for an environmental cause. The resulting book published in 1955, This Is Dinosaur: Echo Park Country And Its Magic Rivers, edited by Wallace Stegner, was also the first book ever published for an environmental cause. Article edited by David Leland Hyde in November 2011. To read more about Philip Hyde’s travels to Dinosaur in his own words, see the blog post, “On The Road To Dinosaur.”
Tenpeak Range From Slopes Above Image Lake, Glacier Peak Wilderness - North Cascades National Park, Washington, copyright 1956 Philip Hyde.

Tenpeak Range From Slopes Above Image Lake, Glacier Peak Wilderness – North Cascades National Park, Washington, copyright 1956 by Philip Hyde. The 4X5 large format version of this photograph helped make North Cascades National Park. It appeared on the poster for the campaign and in the Sierra Club Books Exhibit Format Series book “Wild Cascades: Forgotten Parkland.” The printer for the book, Barnes Press, lost the large format film original. This photograph, drum scanned from the 35 mm version of the same image with nearly identical framing is now a popular lightjet print. Before the digital era, Philip Hyde did not print his 35 mm slides large. However, with the sophistication of digital technology, the image is again released to the world.

In a few wild places on the surface of the Earth, nature has reached a climax. The United States of America has been gifted with a bountiful supply of these places of peak expression. While many were actively trying to convert these places to some kind of material gain, a few were finding out that these places had an intangible resource, a spiritual benefit that made itself felt in these natural areas. Fortunately, the inspirational character of wild places is becoming more recognized, even as exploitative uses are also on the rise.

Now more than ever, it is time for a new emphasis on intrinsic values and non-commercial use of our national parks. We have argued for preservation on principle, but the principle is little understood. People need a clearer sense of the importance of wilderness preservation. Dinosaur National Monument is a good example of how the dam builders offer people only one use of the national park system, a use that displaces most other uses. In our materially minded society, the “what can I get out of it” approach commands powerful attention. Irrigation water and electric power are strong selling points for building dams and limiting the scope of uses in Dinosaur National Monument and other units of the national park system. Conservation organizations all over the country oppose dam construction in Dinosaur National Monument. Why? What alternative uses do they propose?

To find the answer to this question, we must begin by taking a closer look at Dinosaur National Monument itself. This leads us to ask more questions: Why is Dinosaur a national monument? Why is the area set aside and its natural resources out of the reach of exploitation? The answers to these questions transcend solely material considerations. The canyons of Dinosaur National Monument were protected because they offer a benefit of greater value than can be obtained from the physical properties of the land. The labyrinthine canyons offer a place of inspiration where the integrity of nature is still intact, unaltered by the materialistic drives and desires of humans. It is a place where people can go to contemplate the works of a power greater than themselves, where they can transcend the destructive aspects of ego and lose some of their self-conscious thoughts.

That such an opportunity is a tonic to those who avail themselves of it is not sentimental wishful thinking, but has been demonstrated and proven. Preservation of an area because it provides such an opportunity is justified in and of itself alone, without any of the many other alternative uses to the industrial extraction of the natural resources.

In such a wild place as Dinosaur, where nature is at climax, the physical uses are transitory like elsewhere, but their transitory nature puts into perspective the sacrifice of other values necessary to obtain a fleeting benefit. The minerals are mined and permanently disappear when there are no more minerals. Even a great dam can become a monument to expediency by filling with mud in a region of erosion where rivers carry a heavy burden of silt. The advance of science may bypass the most foresighted means of exploiting nature, as when atomic power generates electricity, but will no place be left untouched? Will we cut down the last tree? Shoot the last mountain lion? Stone the last canyon swallow? Dam the last river and flood the last canyon? Is it not time to defend and stand by the official recognition of the spiritual benefits of setting aside at least some sacred ground where people can find much needed solace and renewal?

For an introduction as to why the battle over Dinosaur was pivotal to the conservation movement, how the Dinosaur campaign transformed the Sierra Club and brought conservation into the limelight, transforming it into modern environmentalism, see the blog posts, “The Battle Over Dinosaur: Birth Of Modern Environmentalism 1,” and other blog posts in the same series. The Sierra Club Books Exhibit Format Series popularized the coffee table photography book. To read more about this ground-breaking book series, see the blog post, “Sierra Club Books: Exhibit Format Series 1.”

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Posted in Other P. H. Writings

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Monday Blog Blog: Tributes By Outdoor Photographer, QT Luong, G. Dan Mitchell And A New Grand Canyon Battle

April 15th, 2013

Monday Blog Blog: Philip Hyde By Outdoor Photographer Blog, Christopher Robinson; QT Luong; And G. Dan Mitchell

Grand Canyon Escalade: Jackson Frishman And Greg Russell Share A Grand Canyon Adventure To View A Proposed New Development Site At The Little Colorado River

(What in the world is Monday Blog Blog? See the blog post, “Monday Blog Blog Celebration.”)

View Up The Colorado River From Toroweap Overlook, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, copyright 1964 David Leland Hyde.

View Up The Colorado River From Toroweap Overlook, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, copyright 1964 Philip Hyde. This photograph appeared in the Sierra Club Book in the Exhibit Format Series, “Time And The River Flowing: Grand Canyon,” which helped in the campaign to prevent two dams in the Grand Canyon at either end of the national park.

Philip Hyde has had a long history of writing for, being written about and being interviewed for Outdoor Photographer Magazine. Recently, the Outdoor Photographer editor Christopher Robinson wrote a tribute about Philip Hyde for the Outdoor Photographer Blog. Read the tribute here, “Philip Hyde: Photographer, Conservationist, Artist.”

Also, in the last few weeks, QT Luong wrote an insightful, savvy, well-researched and thorough survey of Philip Hyde’s books and career defending wilderness with photography. See, “Philip Hyde Books.”

G. Dan Mitchell is a prolific photographer and blogger about photography. A big thank you also to him for blogging about QT Luong’s book survey and on Philip Hyde in general. Read G. Dan Mitchell’s post here, “‘Philip Hyde Books’ – QT Luong.”

Besides appearing in more environmental campaigns than any other photographer and introducing color to landscape photography, Philip Hyde is also known for his photographs in Time and The River Flowing: Grand Canyon helping to save the Grand Canyon from two dams. Now there are new threats to the Grand Canyon. Jackson Frishman weaves a fine narrative of his visit to the Mouth of the Little Colorado River in which he discusses the proposed Grand Canyon Escalade. Here’s his own description of his blog post, “Pilgrimage To Solitude“:

Note: This is a big post on a big subject, and I appreciate your taking the time to read it through. But even if you can only look through the pretty pictures for now, I hope you’ll still find an opportunity to visit SavetheConfluence.com and read about the development threatening a wild, spectacular, culturally resonant and ecologically important corner of Grand Canyon National Park. You can see details of the proposal and hear the developers’ side of the story at GrandCanyonEscalade.com.

Greg Russell, who accompanied Jackson Frishman on his hiking adventure into Grand Canyon National Park, also wrote his own brilliant tribute to the Grand Canyon and story about their trek to Cape Solitude where they could overlook the confluence of the Little Colorado River and the Colorado River. Read Greg Russell’s blog post, “Through The Grama Grass.”

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50 Percent Off Sale On Select Limited Supply Archival Lightjet & Digital Prints

February 1st, 2013

While Supplies Last…

SUPER SALE: 50% Off Select Philip Hyde Archival Lightjet & Digital Prints

(Regular Blog Posts Begin Below.)

Unique Overstock Sale: This is only the second time we have EVER discounted prints this deeply in 10 years. It is the LAST TIME we will ever knock off this much.

Available Only Online…

Select Archival Lightjet & Digital Prints Authorized By Philip Hyde And Printed By Carr Clifton And David Leland Hyde NOW ON SALE 50% OFF While Supplies Last…

Help Support Environmental Causes…

Inquire Thru Contact Form, Or Order Thru PhilipHyde.com Shopping Cart…

Most of the images mentioned below only have 1-2 prints left in the size mentioned. Please keep checking this post as sale items will change. Matted prints come with 4-ply archival hinge mats and 4-ply archival board backing. For more on why Philip Hyde’s authorized archival fine art digital prints from large format film originals are the best in the world see the blog post, “About Archival Fine Art Digital Prints.”

The following Philip Hyde photographs and sizes are NOW 50% OFF While Supplies Last:

Pines, Mormon Canyon, Winter, Northern Sierra Nevada, California, copyright 1985. (From The Range Of Light with John Muir) (See photo large, read “Image Info,” view ordering options Click Here.)

20X24 Archival Digital Print Unmatted Was $675, Now $337 (1 left)

16X20 Archival Digital Print Unmatted Was $475, Now $237 (1 left)

11X14 Archival Digital Print Unmatted Was $325, Now $162   SOLD OUT!

 

Tenpeak Range, Glacier Peak Wilderness, Washington, copyright 1956. (From North Cascades: Forgotten Parkland) 

(See photo large, read “Image Info,” ordering options Click Here.)

11X14 Archival Print Unmatted Was $325, Now $162  SOLD OUT!

8X10 Archival Digital Print Unmatted    Was $175,   Now $87 (1 left)

Mitchell Butte From Mitchell Mesa, Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, Utah-Arizona, copyright 1963. (From Navajo Wildlands) (See photo large, read more info Click Here.)

16X20 Archival Digital Print Matted     Was $550,     Now $275 (1 left)

11X14 Archival Print Unmatted Was $325, Now $162  SOLD OUT!

8X10 Archival Digital Print Unmatted Was $175, Now $87 SOLD OUT!

Founder’s Grove, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California, copyright 1977. (From California State Parks: 1864 To The Present) (See photo large, read “Image Info,” view ordering options Click Here.)

16X20 Archival Digital Print Matted  Was $550, Now $275 SOLD OUT!

11X14 Archival Digital Print Matted   Was $375, 50% Off Now $187 (1 left)

8X10 Archival Digital Print Unmatted Was $175, 50% Off, Now $87 (1 left)

 

Sunrise, Monument Canyon, Canyonlands National Park, Utah, copyright 1963. (From Slickrock with Edward Abbey) (See photo large, read “Image Info,” view ordering options Click Here.)

16X20 Archival Print Matted  Was $550,  50% Off, Now $275 (1 left)

11X14 Archival Print Matted  Was $375,  50% Off Now $187 (1 left)

8X10 Archival Print Unmatted  Was $175, 50% Off, Now $87 (1 left)

 

Yucca Blooms Near Toroweap Overlook, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, copyright 1964. (From Time And The River Flowing: Grand Canyon) (See photo large and more info Click Here.)

16X20 Archival Digital Print Matted    Was $550,    Now $275 (1 left)

11X14 Archival Digital Print Unmatted  Was $325, Now $162 (1 left)

8X10 Archival Digital Print Unmatted  Was $175,  Now $87 (1 left)

Fredrickson’s Barn, Winter, Indian Valley, Northern Sierra Nevada, copyright 1952. One of Philip Hyde’s early color photographs.

(See photo large, read “Image Info,” ordering options Click Here.)

16X20 Archival Print Unmatted   Was $475,  Now $237 (1 left)

 

Burney Falls, McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park, California, copyright 1977. (From California State Parks) (See photo large, read “Image Info,” view ordering options Click Here.)

16X20 Archival Print Unmatted  Was $475,  Now $237 SOLD OUT!

11X14 Archival Print Unmatted Was $325, Now $162  SOLD OUT!

 

Near Water’s Edge, Mile 25, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, 1964. (From Time And The River Flowing: Grand Canyon) (See photo large, read “Image Info,” view ordering options Click Here.)

16X20 Archival Digital Print Unmatted  Was $475,  Now $237 (1 left)

8X10 Archival Digital Print Unmatted  Was $175,   Now $87 (1 left)

 

Red Canyon At Hance Rapid, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, copyright 1964. (From Time And The River Flowing: Grand Canyon) (See photo large and more info Click Here.)

16X20 Archival Print Unmatted  Was $475,  Now $237 (1 left)

11X14 Archival Print Unmatted   Was $325,  Now $162 (1 left)

8X10 Archival Print Unmatted  Was $175,   Now $87 (1 left)

Berry Creek Falls, Big Basin Redwoods State Park, California, copyright 1977. (From California State Parks: 1864 To The Present) 

(See photo large, read “Image Info,” view ordering options Click Here.)

11X14 Archival Digital Print Unmatted     Was $325,
50% Off,  Now  $162 (2 left)

8X10 Archival Digital Print Unmatted   Was $175,
50% Off,  Now $87 (2 left)

Horse And Cottonwoods At The Mouth Of Canyon De Chelly National Monument, Arizona, copyright 1963. (From Navajo Wildlands) (See photo large and more info Click Here.)

11X14 Archival Print Matted  Was $375, Now $187 SOLD OUT!

8X10 Archival Print Unmatted  Was $175, Now $87 SOLD OUT!

Monument Basin, Canyonlands National Park, Utah, copyright 1975.

(See photo large, read “Image Info,” view ordering options Click Here.)

11X14 Archival Fine Art Digital Print Unmatted Was $325,

50% Off Now $162 (3 left)

8X10 Archival Fine Art Digital Print Unmatted     Was $175,

50% Off, Now $87 (1 left)

Mount Denali, Wonder Lake, Denali National Park, Alaska, copyright 1971.

(See photo large, read “Image Info,” ordering options Click Here.)

11X14 Archival Print Unmatted Was $325, Now $162 SOLD OUT!

8X10 Archival Print Unmatted  Was $175,  Now $87 SOLD OUT!

White Rim At Monument Basin, Canyonlands National Park, Utah, copyright 1982. (From Drylands: The Deserts Of North America) 

(See photo large, read “Image Info,” ordering options Click Here.)

11X14 Archival Print Unmatted   Was $325,  Now $162 (2 left)

8X10 Archival Print Unmatted  Was $175,   Now $87 (1 left)

Ponderosa Pines, Volcanic Boulders, Northern Sierra Nevada, California, copyright.

(See photo large, read “Image Info,” view ordering options Click Here.)

11X14 Archival Digital Print Unmatted  Was $325, Now $162 SOLD OUT!

8X10 Archival Digital Print Unmatted  Was $175, 50% Off, Now $87 (1 left)

 

Mendenhall Glacier, Tongass National Forest, Alaska, copyright 1971.

(See photo large, read “Image Info,” ordering options Click Here.)

11X14 Archival Digital Print Unmatted  Was $325,  Now $162 (1 left)

8X10 Archival Digital Print Unmatted   Was $175,    Now $87 (1 left)

Mount Lassen From Manzanita Lake, Lassen Volcanic National Park, California, copyright.

(See photo large, read “Image Info,” ordering options Click Here.)

11X14 Archival Print Unmatted   Was $325,  Now $162 (1 left)

8X10 Archival Print Unmatted  Was $175,   Now $87 (1 left)

Inquire Thru Contact Form, Or Order Thru PhilipHyde.com Shopping Cart…

 Philip Hyde Photography donates a portion of all proceeds to environmental and conservation work.

Most of the images mentioned above have only 1-2 prints left in the size listed. Please keep checking this post as sale prints will change. Matted archival digital prints come with 4-ply archival hinge mats and 4-ply archival board backing. For more on why Philip Hyde’s authorized archival fine art digital prints from large format film are the best archival digital prints in the world see the blog post, “About Archival Fine Art Digital Prints.”

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Posted in Specials - On Sale

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Glen Canyon Institute Collaboration

December 5th, 2012

Philip Hyde Photography And Glen Canyon Institute Will Announce Collaborative Projects In 2013

(See the new Philip Hyde Gallery on the Glen Canyon Institute website home page.)

Cathedral In The Desert, Clear Creek Canyon, Glen Canyon, copyright 1964 by Philip Hyde. Made after the gates of Glen Canyon Dam were already closed and Lake Powell was filling. Named by American Photo Magazine one of the top 100 photographs of the 20th Century along with Flag Raising Over Iwo Jima, The Moonshot, VJ Day Sailor’s Kiss and others.

(See the photograph here large: “Cathedral In The Desert.”)

Philip Hyde Photography and Glen Canyon Institute staff are brainstorming, looking into and developing a number of projects to be announced in 2013. Potential projects include David Leland Hyde’s participation as a speaker in Glen Canyon Institute’s Roadshow when it travels to California in 2013, a new Cathedral In The Desert Poster, fundraising auctions, print sales, collaborative marketing and publicity and a number of other potential win-win adventures.

Recently Philip Hyde Photography granted to Glen Canyon Institute an internet licensing use for 29 of Philip Hyde’s photographs of Glen Canyon before Glen Canyon Dam and “Lake” Powell. Some of these photographs are not displayed anywhere else in the world, not even on the Philip Hyde Photography website. Glen Canyon Institute organized the Philip Hyde Glen Canyon photographs into a featured image gallery and displayed a link to this Philip Hyde photo gallery prominently on the Glen Canyon Institute home page. Glen Canyon Institute has gathered thousands of photographs on its website of Glen Canyon before it disappeared under “Lake” Powell and after it re-emerged in the last 10 years, including photographs by James Kay from his film and book Resurrection, which also contains a reproduction of Cathedral In The Desert next to James Kay’s contemporary photograph from the same ledge showing the newly emerged canyon oasis with it’s 60 foot high and one foot wide waterfall.

“The board was very impressed with your dad’s photo’s on our website – definitely some of the best we have…” –Eric Balkin, Programs Director, Glen Canyon Institute.

Richard Ingebretson of Salt Lake City founded Glen Canyon Institute with the help of environmentalist David Brower in 1996. For more on David Brower see the blog post, “David Brower: Photographer And Environmentalists 1.” The mission of Glen Canyon Institute is to restore Glen Canyon and the Colorado River. Currently focus is on the Fill Lake Mead First campaign. Both “Lake” Powell and “Lake” Mead have operated at less than half full capacity for over a decade. If “Lake” Powell were operated as a backup and remained for the most part empty, while “Lake” Mead were filled as full as possible, both Powell and Mead reservoirs would operate more efficiently, evaporate less water and more readily supply power and water to residents of the region. The Glen Canyon Institute Website explains some of the challenges:

The Colorado River Compact was based on flawed projections that seriously overestimated actual future river flow and seriously underestimated future water demand. As a result, growing demand, relentless drought, and climate change are creating a water deficit of almost 1 million acre-feet a year in the Colorado River system. Both Lake Powell and Lake Mead reservoirs are half empty, and scientists predict that they will probably never fill again. The water supply of more than 22 million people in the three Lower Basin states is in jeopardy. The region is also facing an environmental crisis. The ecological health of the Southwest is tied to the fate of the Colorado River. A century ago, the Colorado was one of the world’s wildest rivers. Its extraordinary variations in water flow, temperature, and sedimentation created a unique ecosystem that was once home to 16 endemic fish species — the largest percentage of any river system in North America. The construction of more than a dozen dams during the last century has critically damaged the integrity of the Colorado River. Hundreds of miles of canyon and countless archaeological sites have been flooded, and dozens of wildlife species have been endangered. Glen Canyon Dam is one of the largest contributors to these problems…

The Colorado River ecosystem is in fragile condition and greatly altered throughout the Grand Canyon due to the dams upstream, as is the remainder of the Colorado River drainage downstream. One of the West’s most mighty rivers no longer reaches its own delta at the Sea of Cortez or Gulf of California between Baja California, Mexico and Mainland Mexico.

From the founding of Glen Canyon Institute, Philip Hyde supported the non-profit organization with his photographs. Glen Canyon Institute is largely responsible for the wide distribution of the iconic Philip Hyde photograph of Cathedral In The Desert that since its making in 1964 has become a symbol of the loss of Glen Canyon.

Glen Canyon Institute staff made Cathedral In The Desert into a popular poster that helped raise operating funds for its campaigns from 1996 on. We hope to make a new poster, possibly in conjunction with American Photo Magazine, which named Cathedral In The Desert one of the top 100 photographs of the 20th Century in it’s December 1999 issue on recommendation by David Brower, just as other prominent citizens and celebrities chose the other 99 of the top 100 photographs of the Century.

For more about how reservoirs are being drained, rivers reclaimed and dams removed in a global grassroots movement to restore the arteries of life on Earth, see the blog post, “A River Will Run Through It.” For more background on the devastation and damage to wilderness by dams see the blog post, “Glen Canyon Lament By Philip Hyde 1.“ For more on the photography of Glen Canyon by Philip Hyde see the blog posts, “Glen Canyon Portfolio 1,” “Glen Canyon Portfolio 2” and “Glen Canyon Portfolio 3.”

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Posted in Activist Photography

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Happy Thanksgiving!

November 21st, 2012

Happy Holidays 2012…

Dried Native Corn Bundle, Adobe Wall, Santa Fe, New Mexico, copyright 2009 by David Leland Hyde. Nikon D90.

Outside the wind roars and the rain drums on the roof and the decks. Inside I sit in the warmth of the stove, cozy, listening to the fire hum with the wind outside and watching the flames dance through the glazed stove door casting a faint glow that flickers around the room.

Today it was dark and gloomy, lonely and a bit sad here. The seasons march on into the night, into winter and into the past. The past that hovers just beneath the surface, that still holds a candle for the future. A past enriched by love and laughter. We were wandering in the wilderness with open hearts. The people we were, are only here in memory now. Yet perhaps they are still here in some other form, they must be. They feel very close, yet very far away.

Tomorrow, the rain will stop, the weather report promised. The sun will come out. Everything will glisten wet, fresh and clean, washed by time and the weather. I do not have to become addicted to technology to believe in the future. The future will be here, whether I believe in it or not. Will I be here? If I am here, in what form will I appear? Will I be like the rain? Will I change into the wind and roar over the mountains and down the canyons? Will I sweep out to sea and not come back until I blow out the lights in New York City? Perhaps.

Perhaps I will be changed by the sun. I will grow soft and kiss a new baby’s cheek. I will sit by the stove in the firelight and play the guitar with my friends. I will bring a salad and an offering to the Thanksgiving feast. I will give thanks for the many blessings I have. I will think about the Pilgrims and what they went through to find their rock. I will share with the native people and not take advantage of their generosity this time. I will celebrate my culture and many other cultures without bending them to a colorless mix of media, advertising and globalization. I will stay small and happy by the fire, happy in my local ways, eating well, close to the land, warm while I know I am ready for the storm. I don’t fear the rain or the water because I am their brother. I am the wind. I am Giving Thanks.

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Figurehead Gallery Group Show: The Legacy of Ansel Adams & Minor White

October 26th, 2012

Golden Decade

Photographers

The Legacy Of Ansel Adams And Minor White

Reception:  Sunday, November 4, 2012, 1-4 pm

Exhibit:  November 1-December 1, 2012

EXTENDED TO DECEMBER 22, 2012

Buckskin Gulch, Paria River Canyon, Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness, Utah, copyright 1969 Philip Hyde. Baby Deardorff 4X5 large format view camera. Buckskin Gulch is the featured image on the announcement for The Legacy of Ansel Adams and Minor White show.

Photographs by Ansel Adams, Minor White, Philip Hyde, Bill Heick, Charles Wong, David Johnson, Benjamen Chinn, Ira Latour, Zoe Brown, John Upton, Gerald Ratto, Stan Zrnich, Pat Harris, Don Whyte, Lee Blodget, Fred Hill, Helen Howell, Harold Zegart, Cameron Macauley, Stephen Goldstine, Bob Hollingsworth, Al Richter and Leonard Zielaskewitz.

The Figurehead Gallery in Downtown Livermore is pleased to present an exhibit of photographs of the first students of the Photography Department at the California School of Fine Arts, now the San Francisco Art Institute. Founded by Ansel Adams, directed by Minor White, and staffed by such luminaries as Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea Lange, Lisette Model, and Edward Weston, the first photography department in the US to teach creative photography as a full-time profession began in 1945 at the California School of Fine Art, now the San Francisco Art Institute. The importance of the school and its influence, not only on West Coast Photography but on photography as a whole, has been far-reaching, lasting well into the 21st century. Along with approximately 100 former student’s vintage and modern photographic prints, also on view will be several vintage prints by Ansel Adams on loan from his granddaughter, Sylvia Desin.

Several of the photographers, now in their 80′s and 90′s, will be in attendance as well as many family members of the photographers who have passed away. David Leland Hyde will include his father Philip Hyde’s vintage and more recent color photographs in the exhibition. Ken Ball and Victoria Whyte Ball, daughter of Philip Hyde’s classmate Don Whyte, opened the Figurehead Gallery to honor her father and the other photographers of the Golden Decade and to showcase local art from the East Bay Area.
The Figurehead Gallery
Old Theater Mall
2222 2nd Street, Suites 20 & 21
Livermore, CA 94550
925•337•1799
www.figureheadgallery.com

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Announcing An Honest Silence: A Celebration Of Wilderness

October 12th, 2012

Greg Russell, PJ Johnson And Ann Whittaker Release Their New E-Book, An Honest Silence: A Celebration of Wilderness

E-Book Cover For An Honest Silence by Greg Russell, PJ Johnson and Ann Whittaker with Foreword by David Leland Hyde.

Announcing An Honest Silence: A Celebration of Wilderness, a new e-book of essays and photographs by Greg Russell, PJ Johnson and Ann Whittaker. It might be conflict of interest to review it here because I wrote the foreword for it, but I will give a taste of what the new e-book has to offer readers and why advance reviewers, landscape photography blog writers and nature enthusiasts are excited about it.

Greg Russell mentions in his blog post pre-announcing An Honest Silence: A Celebration of Wilderness that at $5.00, the book is ultra affordable. Besides, Greg Russell points out that a portion of proceeds will go directly to the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, of which my father pioneer landscape photographer Philip Hyde was an active and prominent member for many years, and I’ve been a member for close to a decade. Check them out too. You will be glad you did.

But why another book, or e-book in this case, about wilderness? I believe Greg Russell answers this question best in his Preface:

Everyone who lets their imagination wander into open space should be lifting their voices up to be heard in support of wilderness.  If not now, when?  When it’s all gone, it will be too late. These essays are reminiscent of our own experiences and thoughts about wilderness; we are passionate about the places we spend time in the outdoors, and feel that they need to be protected and enjoyed.

In the Foreword I review the wilderness literary tradition and how this new e-book by Greg Russell, PJ Johnson and Ann Whittaker honors the tradition well:

Fiction and non-fiction anthologies, novels, short stories, magazine articles, editorials, and book after book centers on or dabbles in wilderness… We are blessed with a voluminous tradition of written pages on wilderness, yet today in the computer age, as far as I know, there has yet to be even one single e-book written about wilderness, until now.

From there I go on to express other reasons why we all need wilderness and in addition why it can do anyone much good to read An Honest Silence, closing with:

The early pioneers of wilderness writing would be happy to join me in welcoming three fresh talented voices to the wilderness tradition. Some day, they too may be seen as pioneers in their own avenue of expression.

The essays by Greg Russell passionately connect you to the land through his eyes. The writings by PJ Johnson will make you think and provide a wake-up call regarding how we treat wilderness. Ann Whittaker’s lyrical prose will move you to see yourself more deeply through wilderness. All in all, An Honest Silence is an excellent read and will bring more meaning to your own experience of wilderness. Don’t wait. Go download it now. You will be glad you did.

Buy Now

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Plumas Arts Tour: County-wide Open Studios And Barn Quilt Trail

September 13th, 2012

Plumas Arts Tour: County-wide Open Studios

Smokey Morning, Indian Creek, Plumas County, Northern Sierra Nevada, California, copyright 2009 David Leland Hyde. Nikon D90. This never before released 16X24 archival fine art digital print will be on display in the first Philip Hyde Open Studio ever, part of the Plumas Arts Tour. Other new work by David Leland Hyde will on display as well as newly discovered fine art hand made vintage color prints as well as vintage darkroom black and white prints from the files of Philip Hyde’s historically significant large format photographs.

UPDATE: The Plumas Arts Tour and Philip Hyde Studio Open Studio went well. Though participation in the Plumas Arts Tour reportedly fell off from last year, the people who did come out were a delight to meet and talk with. Sales were good. David Leland Hyde’s 2009 Indian Creek Below Indian Valley, limited edition of 100, was a hot item in the 8 X 12 archival digital print size. Look for a possible price increase within the next few months on Indian Creek Below Indian Valley. If you are interested in acquiring a fine art archival digital print, we encourage you to act now.

Plumas Arts, a Quincy, California based non-profit art organization serving all of Plumas County and the Feather River Region, presents the Second Annual Plumas Arts Tour and Barn Quilt Trail. Philip Hyde’s personal artist’s studio, built by the artist in 1965, will feature an open house for the first time ever in history hosted by Philip Hyde’s son David Leland Hyde. For more information please call 530-284-7434 or see the Plumas Arts Tour Guidebook. (See locations to obtain a guidebook below.) For more on Plumas Art and the June 2012 Grand Opening of the new Capitol Arts Center see the blog post, “Plumas Arts Reinvents The Capitol Club In Quincy, California.”

Saturday & Sunday, September 15 & 16, 10m-4pm

All Around The County

PLUMAS ARTS TOUR & BARN QUILT TRAIL

Explore the diverse artists, galleries, landscapes, communities and characters of Plumas County.
For details on the artists and art stops go to Plumas Arts Events.
$10 per person admission supports local artists and Plumas Arts.

Philip Hyde Photography / David Leland Hyde
Studio-Gallery
PO Box 205
Taylorsville CA 95983
(530) 284-7434
philiphyde.com

Philip Hyde, a student & teaching associate of Ansel Adams, in 56 years living in Plumas County co-founded the Plumas County Museum, introduced color to landscape photography and helped make many national parks. New work from files.

Last year the Barn Quilt Trail and the Plumas Arts Tour were combined events, this year they are linked, but separate events with separate maps. Barn Quilts are painted wooden squares that resemble bed quilts. Last year’s Plumas Arts Tour Guidebook invited participants to, “Experience Plumas County…” The Plumas Arts Tour Guidebook is available for only $10.00 at the Capitol Arts Center Gallery at 525 Main Street, Quincy, California; in Graeagle, California at the Red House Art Gallery, 126 Highway 89; in Chester, California at Good Vibrations, 278 Main Street; and in Greenville, California at Sterling Sage, 214 Main Street. For more information call Plumas Arts Tour 530-283-3402 or e-mail info@plumasarts.org. The guidebook for the first Plumas Arts Tour said:

Travel along the shores of Lake Almanor, to the township of Chester, just over the county line into neighboring Westwood, through artist studios and dozens of painted barn quilts in Indian Valley: Greenville, Taylorsville, Crescent Mills. Stop in art galleries and artist’s studios in and around the charming town of Quincy where the American Valley also offers a number of painted barn quilts. At the Feather River Canyon gateway to the arts tour, part of the Plumas Arts Tour, you will find cabin galleries at the R&R RV Park and Hot Springs. Mohawk Valley artists share their work at a studio in Clio, a gallery at Graeagle Park and and the historic Barn at the junction of California Highways 89 and 70 a few blocks from the Mohawk Valley Artists’ Guild Quilts on Fences Project in Blairsden, California. Spend the day, Spend the night. Stay with us for longer. Get to know our beautiful landscapes, local color and culture and you are certain to return to Plumas County and the Plumas Arts Tour again.

This year’s description of Indian Valley artists said:

In Taylorsville, painter Sally Yost hosts fellow painter Norma Lewis at her studio. Greenville stops include Sterling Sage on Main Street and glass artist Ruth McRoberts shares space with Jean Wendorf who offers jewelry and painted barn quilt miniatures. Be sure to stop by the photography studio of legendary photographer Philip Hyde and son David Leland Hyde.

Legendary? Philip Hyde might chuckle at that one. Anyway, come on out and enjoy the fun…

Do you participate in any local art tours, art fairs or art shows?

 

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The Naming Of ‘Hyde’s Wall’ By Writer And Photographer Stephen Trimble

August 8th, 2012

How The Photograph, ‘Junipers, Wall, Escalante Wilderness’ From Slickrock With Edward Abbey, Became ‘Hyde’s Wall, Escalante Wilderness’ Now The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah

Guest Blog Post By Natural Historian And Landscape Photographer Of The Western U.S., Stephen Trimble

Hyde’s Wall, East Moody Canyon, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, copyright 1976 by Stephen Trimble. If you look carefully you will see that this photograph was not taken from the same distance, nor from the same lateral angle, in relation to the wall, as Philip Hyde’s photograph.

LP Blogger On Stephen Trimble:

Writer and photographer Stephen Trimble won the Ansel Adams Award for photography and conservation for his book, The Sagebrush Ocean: A Natural History of the Great Basin Stephen Trimble lives in Salt Lake City and in Southern Utah’s redrock country just outside of Torrey near Capitol Reef National Park. For more about his books, his conservation projects and other work visit his website at www.stephentrimble.net. Stephen Trimble is author of over 20 books on the natural West including

Hyde’s Wall, East Moody Canyon, Escalante Wilderness, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, copyright 1971 by Philip Hyde. This was the favorite photograph from Slickrock, a Sierra Club book that sold well and received literary recognition for both Philip Hyde and Edward Abbey.

Lasting Light: 125 Years of Grand Canyon Photography, showcasing

photographs by Philip Hyde and the last living interview of the master landscape photographer. Stephen Trimble teaches writing in the University of Utah Honors College and spent the 2008-2009 academic year as a Wallace Stegner Centennial Fellow at the University of Utah’s Tanner Humanities Center. The Lasting Light Exhibition has been on a national tour with the Smithsonian Institute since 2006, when the show opened at the Historic Kolb Studio, father’s day weekend after Philip Hyde passed away.

By Stephen Trimble

In the long-ago spring of 1976, the side canyons of Utah’s Escalante River were more remote than they are now, and they are still pretty remote. My two buddies and I had driven without incident in our hand-me-down family sedans across the Circle Cliffs to the Moody Creek trailhead. We found no other vehicles parked at the end of the road. Once we set off on foot, we weren’t expecting to see anyone else for the next week.

As a college student, I had pretty much memorized the Sierra Club exhibit format books. I aspired to photograph like Philip Hyde and Eliot Porter and Ansel Adams. Though I used a 35 mm camera rather than their large-format view cameras, I knew I could learn a lot from thinking—and seeing—like they did. And I respected with all my heart their dedication to saving wild places.

I knew Philip Hyde’s photographs in Slickrock, the 1971 Sierra Club book he created with Edward Abbey on the southern Utah Canyon Country, and when I photographed in Capitol Reef and the Escalante, Hyde’s eye influenced what I framed in my viewfinder. I had always harbored a secret wish to stumble on the patch of lichened sandstone he chose for the cover of Slickrock.

Instead, I found Hyde’s Wall.

My friends and I made camp at the junction of East Moody Canyon and the Escalante. In the lengthening iridescent light of late afternoon we wandered up East Moody Canyon. Each rounding curve brought new walls. Desert varnish streaked the crossbedded sandstone, black swaths across lavender and vermillion. Here, the color fields of Rothko; there, the bold strokes of Franz Kline.

One wall in particular drew me. I moved my tripod this way and that, aiming my camera past piñons and junipers to a canyon wall reflecting purples and mauves, textured with fractures and cracks. The light had bounced down between canyon walls from the sky and the stars, distilled to an unbelievable saturation.  I had never seen such surreal and intense colors. As I wandered back to camp, I realized that this just might be the very same wall Philip Hyde had photographed for Slickrock: Endangered Canyons of the Southwest with Edward Abbey and for Philip Hyde’s Glen Canyon Portfolio. I was intensely curious to see if my hunch was correct, but of course I couldn’t verify the match until I had my slides back from processing and I had the book in my hand. Once verified, the fact that we had both found our way to this inspirational wall in the middle of nowhere struck me as incredibly cool and serendipitous.

In 1979, I first published my version of the East Moody wall in its desert-varnished sunset splendor, in my first book with a spine: The Bright Edge: A Guide to the National Parks of the Colorado Plateau Not long afterwards, I heard back from friends who were with Philip Hyde when he first picked up a copy of The Bright Edge and saw my version of his wall—and they reported that he wasn’t pleased. So I contacted Philip to make amends, and I started captioning the photo “Hyde’s Wall” as a tribute whenever I had control of captions—most notably in Blessed By Light: Visions of the Colorado Plateau (1986).

Years later, I had the wonderful opportunity and honor to interview Philip by phone for my book, Lasting Light: 125 Years of Grand Canyon Photography in December 2005, just three months before his death in March 2006. He was still passionate, still inspiring. He told me that he was down there photographing in the Grand Canyon in the 1960s and 70s “because we wanted to keep the dam builders out,” but the place itself was most important: “Here was this magnificent canyon full of wonderful things to photograph. It’s a matter of seeing, not deciding where you are going to photograph but just looking around, opening your eyes.”

I often have quoted Philip Hyde’s preface to Slickrock, in which he articulated the wilderness photographer’s fear:

The focus of this book is on a part of Earth that is still almost as it was before man began to tinker with the land… Telling thousands about it—to get their help in what must be a prolonged struggle to keep it wild—is a calculated risk…. I have some hesitation in showing more people its delightful beauty—hesitation born of the fear that this place, like so many others of great beauty in our country, might be loved to death, even before being developed to death. So, if our book moves you to visit the place yourself sometime, first make sure you add your voice to those seeking its protection.

For every place, Philip Hyde said, “There will always be people that want to exploit it, and there will always be people—hopefully—that want to save it and keep it as it is.” Better to publish your photographs and rally the troops. What’s in the frame of the photograph matters artistically, to be sure, but what’s outside the frame can destroy it. The generation that followed—including myself—knew that the Grand Canyon was saved from dams, in part, by Philip Hyde’s photographs. We knew the power of nature photography. And we have tried to live up to his legacy.

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Landscape Photography Blogger Note: In 2012, this kind of inadvertent image similarity happens more regularly than it did in 1976 because many, many times the number of landscape photographers are out exploring the wilderness now; not to mention that many, many times more landscape photographs exist in the collective psyche as well. Discover more about Slickrock and Philip Hyde’s collaboration with Edward Abbey in the blog post, “Who Was Edward Abbey?” and under the blog post tag Edward Abbey: Blog posts that mention Edward Abbey.

 

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Plumas Arts Reinvents The Capitol Club In Quincy, California

June 29th, 2012

Announcing The Grand Opening Of The Capitol Arts Gallery

525 Main Street Across From The County Courthouse
Quincy, California   95971
530-283-3402

Opening Reception 5:00-7:00 pm June 29, 2012

Group Exhibition June 29, 2012 Through August 22, 2012

Mount Hough, Arlington Ridge And Cottonwoods Across Indian Valley, Plumas County, Northern Sierra Nevada, California, copyright 2009 by David Leland Hyde. A 16X24 archival print of this photograph will participate in the Capitol Arts Center Grand Opening Show. The Plumas Arts Grand Opening Group Exhibition is the first time David Leland Hyde’s photography has been exhibited in a “brick and mortar” venue. David Leland Hyde was born in Plumas County. He is the son of pioneer landscape photographer Philip Hyde, who lived in Plumas County for 56 years. Philip Hyde was one of the founders of the Plumas County Museum. He hired the architect of the Plumas County Museum and was active in local community affairs including being a member of the nationally acclaimed Quincy Library Group that created a bridge between environmentalists and timber interests. For more on Philip Hyde click on his name in the main text.

(See the photograph large: “Mount Hough Across Indian Valley.”)

For more information about the current Lumiere Gallery group show in Atlanta, Georgia, see the blog post, “Lumiere Gallery Presents: Designed By Nature.”

The history of art, local Plumas County artists, Plumas Arts and the history of watering holes, bars, taverns, drinking establishments, clubs and historic saloons converged last year and will culminate in a new Grand Opening of the Capitol Art Gallery at 525 Main Street in downtown Quincy, California, the county seat of Plumas county.

The historic two-story Capitol Saloon, established in 1873 by Andrew “Doc” Hall, thrived for over a century and a quarter before falling on hard times in recent years. The Capitol Club, as it was later called, stood vacant until the 25-year-old Quincy, California based art association, Plumas Arts, bought the building outright for $70,500 in September 2011 and paid its back taxes, reinventing the premises as The Capitol Art Gallery.

The Capitol Arts Gallery opened on May 4, 2011 with a rare local exhibition by internationally recognized landscape photographer Carr Clifton. The Grand Opening of the Capitol Arts Gallery and opening reception will be this evening, Friday, June 29, 2012 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. Carr Clifton’s opening reception and the gala Grand Opening this evening may be the most colorful and captivating events in the long history of “The Cap” besides “A spectacular shoot-out that occurred in front of the saloon in February 1886, resulting in the death of one man and the ostracizing of the other,” historically recounted by Las Plumas of the Plumas County Museum Association, which pioneer landscape photographer Philip Hyde helped found.

Philip Hyde and his son David Leland Hyde will be just two of more than 35 local artists, whose art will appear in the Grand Opening Exhibition. Philip Hyde’s “Cathedral In The Desert,” that American Photo Magazine named one of the top 100 photographs of the 20th century will be in the show as well as “The Minarets,” that Ansel Adams said he liked better than his own photograph of the Minarets, as well as “Misty Morning, Indian Creek” and “Spanish Creek” will appear in the show. David Leland Hyde’s “Grasses, Clouds Reflected, Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California” and “Mount Hough, Arlington Ridge And Cottonwoods Across Indian Valley” will also hang in the exhibition. When asked which artists might be of interest to a national and international audience, Plumas Arts’ Executive Director for over 25 years, Roxanne Valladao replied, “They all are. It’s not fair for me to say which artists are more important or more interesting than the others. The show represents all of our members that wanted to be in the show.” Indeed the Plumas Arts membership is “diverse and talented,” reported the Feather River Bulletin and Indian Valley Record. “The exhibition will feature two dimensional and three dimensional fine art and artisan creations in wood, basketry, pottery and jewelry… Plumas Arts will also use the evening to offer recognition to the generous individuals and groups that offered financial and volunteer support… All who made a financial donation of $100 or more or offered volunteer labor will be given a fine art print of Indian Creek by late local artist bob Pfenning.”

Executive Director Roxanne Valladao said that 36 people so far have donated their time and 57 people have donated money to the “Place of Our Own” fund that became the Capitol Arts Gallery. The California Arts Council article on Plumas Arts said that after decades of saving, sacrificing and fundraising, Plumas Arts was in the fortuitous position to take advantage of a foreclosure auction to purchase the Capitol Club. Donations paid for the bulk of renovations while dozens of volunteers cleaned, dumped trash, demolished walls, replaced rotted floors and walls, painted, polished and redesigned the space into a beautiful contemporary art gallery space that still retains the charm of the historical building as well. Organizations such as the California Arts Council, the Plumas County Board of Supervisors, Feather River College, Pacific Gas & Electric, High Sierra Music Foundation and a number of other local and state organizations contributed funding or expertise to the project. A gorgeous wood floor installation that would have cost tens of thousands of dollars came together under the efforts of Feather River College Students in Free Enterprise, also known as S.I.F.E., with a LOWE’s foundation grant.

As said in the California Arts Council organ ArtWorks, “For a rural arts council in one of the most economically challenged, least populated (Plumas County’s population is 20,000), and geographically isolated counties in the state, the notion of owning such a part of local history might seem part of a dreamscape.” However, local artists have earned this dream. Artists in Plumas County who support Plumas Arts range in experience, schooling, expertise, recognition and fame, but they all have actively participated in the development of the arts in Quincy and in the entire county. Plumas Arts members hail from the Plumas County communities of Quincy, Portola, Greenville, Chester, Taylorsville, Crescent Mills, Canyon Dam, Hamilton Branch, Westwood, Graeagle, Blairsden, Loyalton, Belden, Bucks Lake, Meadow Valley, Cromberg, Johnsville, Lake Almanor, Tobin, Twain and others. The Capitol Art Gallery is now open Wednesday through Friday 11:00 am to 5:30 pm and Saturday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.

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