Waterfall in Old-Growth Forest, 1950s

Archive & AtlasEstablished · MMXXIII

Waterfall in Old-Growth Forest, 1950s — Archive & Atlas

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Waterfall in Old-Growth Forest, 1950s — Archive & Atlas

Unattributed 1950–1959

AA-2026-88E15C

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A river plunges over a cataract into a pool ringed by dark, close timber, the kind of location that American tourists in the 1950s drove considerable distances to photograph and marvel at, having been told by guidebooks and automobile clubs that such scenes represented the nation's unspoiled interior. A small log lies half-submerged in the white water, the sort of obstacle that would have meant nothing to the flow but everything to anyone contemplating a photograph—its presence says someone paused here, found the composition worth documenting, and decided that a fallen tree added visual weight to the wilderness. The water's violence is rendered in color film with the saturated accuracy of Kodachrome stock, all the whites and blues pushed slightly toward the unreal, which is precisely what a 1950s photographer wanted: proof that the place was both real enough to visit and dramatic enough to deserve color documentation. The old-growth trees in the background represent something Americans were beginning to photograph more urgently, though they did not yet have the vocabulary to say they were disappearing.

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