AA-2026-C71501
On the image
Someone in the 1960s stood at a scenic overlook with a colour slide camera—the new affordable technology that let ordinary citizens document their discoveries in vivid, saturated hues that made even a ordinary reservoir look like a promised land. The two bodies of water, one in the foreground and one visible through the notch of the distant hills, were worth recording because they represented the infrastructure of modern life: dams, hydroelectric power, controlled water supply, the conquest of nature through engineering. The deep blue cast and the particular colour saturation are the fingerprint of Kodachrome or Ektachrome film stock, materials that rendered landscape in tones that were more vivid than what the eye saw, which somehow made the viewer trust them more. The forested hillsides rise dark and anonymous, providing the scale that made the water look important. Someone believed this moment was worth preserving, which meant they thought the view itself was an achievement worth keeping.
Visually related — by likeness
Reservoir and Forested Valley, Colour Slide, circa 1960s. 1955–1975. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-C71501. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/reservoir-and-forested-valley-colour-slide-circa-1960s.
@misc{aaAA2026C71501,
title = {Reservoir and Forested Valley, Colour Slide, circa 1960s},
year = {1955–1975},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-C71501},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/reservoir-and-forested-valley-colour-slide-circa-1960s}
}TY - ART TI - Reservoir and Forested Valley, Colour Slide, circa 1960s PY - 1955–1975 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-C71501 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/reservoir-and-forested-valley-colour-slide-circa-1960s ER -
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