Standing in Awe Before the Works of Galen Rowell

     A chance opportunity to view the work's of Galen Rowell provides a personal insight into his life

I've long had a desire to view world-renowned mountain climber and photographer Galen Rowell's work.  Luckily enough, on a recent trip out west I happened to be near the Mountain Light Gallery, the gallery in Bishop, California that Galen Rowell established to exhibit and sell his artwork.

It was a wonderful thing to be able to walk around and experience many of Galen's great photos as they were intended to be viewed:  Framed, matted, hung on a wall, and artistically lit, rather than in the confines of a magazine.

The wait was well worth it.  The famous photos where all there -- "Clearing Storm Over El Capitan"; "Last Light on Horsetail Falls"; and my favorite "Rainbow Over the Potala Palace". I spent well over an hour looking at all of his classics having seen many of them over the years in so many different magazines. Viewing them full size instead of on smallish magazine pages was a humbling experience. 

Sadly, Galen Rowell perished along with his wife Barbara in a plane crash in August of 2002.  The gallery also seemed to serve as a museum to him.  Among the photographs were some of Galen's old film cameras and lenses, news clippings with his many accomplishments, pictures and clippings from his climbs of Half Dome at an early age, and his many ascensions to the summit of Mt Everest. 

There were personal photos of him and his wife Barbara taken by National Geographic photographer Frans Lanting.  Also spread out in different areas of the gallery were family photos as well as photos taken by Galen's son who is just starting out in the “family” business.   There are little known photos of the surrounding area of Bishop -- an area he knew well and hiked often. 

Enough can't be said about both Galen's climbing skill as well as his skill behind the camera. With the time I spent in his gallery admiring his iconic photographs along with his private family albums I felt  I got to know Galen personally and witness his love of the outdoors .

As I looked closely at the pictures -- most, if not all, shot on film over the course of his 30 year career, I could make out many of the emulsions, having shot with them myself. Velvia, Kodachrome 64, some of the fine grain Kodak 25, I’m sure many other chromes where favorites as well. 

What I found interesting was how "soft" the images were. Having looked and scanned in many of my old chromes, I expected some of the softness having seen it first hand.  What I didn’t expect was in the hands of a master the images were still “soft” by today’s standards.  There wasn’t any pixel-peeping as there is now in Galen’s day.

Nowadays we are spoiled with our many different ways to sharpen an image.  Even more amazing is our ability for close viewing of each and every picture.  There are also multiple techniques for sharpening an image. Unsharp Mask, High Pass sharpening and even a Nik filter that does if all for you aptly named Nik Sharpener.  Those tools have all arrived in the digital age.  It's possible that Galen Rowell may have never shot with a digital camera to take advantage of these. 

Moving through the gallery, I gazed upon a 5 foot tall, seemingly life-sized print of "Last Light on Horsetail Falls".  Before this photo was shot there wasn’t much thought to how the evening light fell upon Horsetail Falls in the winter. 

Now there are many photographers each year who look at this date and make the trek out to Yosemite trying to top this once a year photo opportunity.  Most come away not even seeing this photo happen in real life for one reason or another. 

As I stood inches away looking into the waterfall, I was struck at how soft the image was.  This could be the greatest stretch of a 35mm negative when it was made.  Who really knows what photo paper
they might have used or how it was printed.

Today we would probably be wondering about the horsepower of the machine needed or whether the file touched Genuine Fractals to produce such an enlargement.  The pixel peepers throughout the Internet would be looking and proclaiming that something was wrong with the lens or maybe the camera. 

It brought to light for me what most have known all along.  It’s what’s in the image that counts.  Galen was capturing what today would be maligned on some Internet forum and it is just one of the many of iconic pictures from the master.  Today’s cameras are much better with resolution and sharpness, but they still need a skilled photographer at the helm for spectacular images.

I have included many of my images taken in the area around Bishop, CA .  It's easy to understand why more than one photographer is located in this area.  It is just a magnificent area for photography.  My photos may not match up with those of Galen Rowell, but if you plan a visit in this area, take some time to visit some of the places on my list.  And let me know if you find some great spots on your own.

You can view the whole gallery here.  Please comment via email or inline at the blog.