AA-2026-8E01A0
On the image
A multi-tiered waterfall plunges through a thickly forested ravine in what appears to be Appalachia or the upper South, captured on early Kodachrome film stock where the blue cast and color saturation have turned the forest into something almost unreal—a visitor's impression of wilderness rather than wilderness itself. Someone took the trouble to hike into a gorge with a large-format camera and Kodachrome slide film, an expensive proposition, to prove that beauty existed in the American interior. The exposure and color palette suggest the 1940s or early 1950s, when color photography was rare enough that a simple waterfall became worth the expense and effort, at a moment when Americans were just beginning to document their own landscape as a kind of national inventory. The water glows nearly white against the deep blues and greens, an artifact of the film's bias, but also exactly what the photographer hoped for—evidence that the place was worth seeing, that it had been worth the trip. The composition is straightforward and unpretentious: get there, frame the water, don't move, make the case. This is the work of someone who believed in the waterfall but not in arranging it.
Visually related — by likeness
Waterfall in Dense Forest, Kodachrome Slide, circa 1940s-1950s. 1940–1955. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-8E01A0. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/waterfall-in-dense-forest-kodachrome-slide-circa-1940s-1950s.
@misc{aaAA20268E01A0,
title = {Waterfall in Dense Forest, Kodachrome Slide, circa 1940s-1950s},
year = {1940–1955},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-8E01A0},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/waterfall-in-dense-forest-kodachrome-slide-circa-1940s-1950s}
}TY - ART TI - Waterfall in Dense Forest, Kodachrome Slide, circa 1940s-1950s PY - 1940–1955 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-8E01A0 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/waterfall-in-dense-forest-kodachrome-slide-circa-1940s-1950s ER -
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