A Photograph: Denali. 1988.

About the Photograph

Denali. Wonder Lake. Denali National Park. Alaska. August 20, 1988

Denali! Denali! The great one rising out of the plain. The great one who speaks with the morning winds… a giant thrust skyward of eternal ice.

Flying above its glaciers two days ago was truly amazing. Swirls and sheets of ice, and rock, and sky moved below us. At 12,000 feet Denali itself still loomed a mile and a half above.

It was no less amazing watching the sun set and rise from Wonder Lake. After its famed, shroud of clouds broke, the whole majestic reach of the mountain could be seen.

An afterthought inserted: Once the clouds parted and the giant mountain could be seen, it was impossible to take my eyes off of it. I must have stood there for three hours. I was entranced. The light stayed well past midnight. I don’t now know what time I made the photograph, but it seems it was after midnight. Mary eventually went into the tent to sleep, We were told later that a group of Caribou had walked through the campground right behind us, we didn’t notice.

Photographing was hard. Scenic images were easy and purposeless. But the design possibilities were endless. I must have stood for three hours watching the light change and the clouds drift.

I woke about three times during the night, peering out of my tent, hoping to see the northern lights. Apparently I missed what display was happening.

Just before six I peaked out and decided the sunrise merited the effort. Everything was blue and silver. Streaks of orange and yellow, beginning to strike the east facing snowbanks, but soon disappeared back into the morning silver.

I sat for nearly an hour watching the mountains. The camp was completely silent. I felt like mine were the only human eyes gazing up at the mountain. But there was a sound. I soon realized that I could hear the winds racing through the mountains. It was perfectly still where I sat, gazing south, but a torrent of rushing frigid air was moving clouds in the sky around Denali, eventually covering the great one itself again. It was extremely cold but a beautiful morning.

This photgraph was made with a Mamiya RB67 using a 500mm lens on Agfapan 25 film and scanned with the Leafscan 45 in 1992.

Printed with pigment inkjet printer on sized cotton paper with no optical brighteners.