A few months ago, I approached my friend Joe with the idea
of retracing William Henry Jackson's photographic exploration of Colorado.
Jackson was an integral part of the Hayden survey that explored the American
west over several years and documented Colorado in 1873.
The inspiration came
from reading Jackson's autobiography and being enthralled with his
photographs and amazed at his
achievements. Jackson was a good photographer - no doubt about it - but above
all he was a heck of a man and had a remarkable and inspiring life.
Reading his book, I was especially impressed by a sense of
discovery and adventure - Jackson was a pioneer and a fearless explorer. I was
curious to see if there was a way to rekindle those feelings in the present day.
Joe was highly receptive to my proposal and we quickly decided that the best
way to find adventure would be to ride our motorcycles - our modern day
equivalent to Jackson's mule.
Unfortunately John Fielder, the very famous Colorado
photographer, had already realized a re-photographic project on Jackson's
images. There was no point for me to do the same. So Joe and I decided to generate
our own route and create our own adventure.
Over the next months, our project
went through much iteration and eventually became a two-men exploration of the
San Luis Valley. Our undertaking is best described as "The collision of
adventure riding and the artistic process brings two men to the wilderness of
Southern Colorado." I was to create wet-plate collodion photographs and
Joe was to record the sounds of the San Luis Valley. Both artists in the field,
capturing their surroundings.
We left for the San Luis Valley on July 15th.
No comments:
Post a Comment