This photograph was taken by Ansel Adams of the Merced River in the Yosemite National park in California, in 1938. The photograph encapsulates the wildness of this location and transports it to wherever the viewer of the photograph may be. The raw beauty that is portrayed in the photograph emphasises the wildness of it, the way in which the photograph has captured the wild setting really displays the untouched and serene beauty, which at the same time connotes a dark and dangerous wildness. This contrast is represented by the composition of the photograph; the brightness of the photo contrasting the shadows, the textures of the trees, the roughness of the mountains up against the glossiness of the river. All these components come together to create an image that has a strong wild presence in the way it is viewed. The composition of the image strongly evokes the attraction of the wild, and entices the viewer through its dark tones of the trees contrasting the bright snow-capped mountain peaks with the added impact of the shadows creating an impressive looming effect. A way of looking at Ansel Adam’s photograph is that he attempts to preserve the landscape through his photography as documentation of the wild, This human observation displays the relationship between the wild and humanity.
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