Vittorio Sella (28 August 1859 – 12 August 1943) was an Italian photographer and mountaineer, who can be safely called the father of mountain photography. An accomplished mountaineer himself Sella’s mountaineering feats include, the first winter ascents of the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa, and the first winter traverse of Mont Blanc. He later climbed Mount Elbrus on the Caucasus (Europe’s highest point). Sella’s panoramas taken from these summits firmly established mountain photography as a subgenre of photography. Sella’s greatest works are however derived from his expeditions to Alaska, Rwenzori (“The Mountains of the Moon”) and the Karakoram accompanying the legendary Luigi Amadeo, the Duke of Abruzzi, as well as reconnaissance expeditions to the Kanchenjunga under Douglas Freshfield. Sella used Dallmeyer large format cameras with 30cmx40cm plates. Sella’s photography inspired none other than Ansel Adams who pointed out that Sella’s work captured “not only the facts and forms of far-off splendours of the world, but the essence of experience which finds a spiritual response in the inner recesses of our mind and heart”. Sella’s portfolio can be found here. Below is a small collection of his masterpieces. Yoshikazu Shirakawa (1935- ) is a freelance photographer renowned for pioneering works on Himalayas in colour. Shirakawa has photographed mountains and landscapes from all around the globe producing a massive body of work, ranging from the Americas to China, and most notably the icy heart of Antarctica. Shirakawa’s gear include the Pentax 6x7 and the Linhof Technika. Often in his travels Shirakawa has used choppers to get top views of mountain peaks. He has several books and exhibitions to his credit. His books often have their prefaces written by the King of Nepal, Sir Edmund Hillary or Arnold Toynbee. Shirakawa is also a recipient of a multitude of awards including the 13th Mainichi Art Prize, the American Society of Media Photographers - PHOTPGRAPHER OF THE YEAR in 1981, the 36th Kikuchi Kan Prize in 1988, the 27th Grand Prize of Japan in 1995, and Medal with Purple Ribbon in 1999. Shirakawa’s work is not readily available on the net. A brief glimpse into Shirakawa’s portfolio can be found here. Below is a collection of thumbnails of some his masterpieces. Galen Avery Rowell (August 23, 1940 – August 11, 2002) was a wilderness photographer and climber. In 1972 Rowell sold his small automotive business and became a full-time photographer. Within a year, he had completed his first major assignment, a cover story for National Geographic. Rowell was particularly keen on seeking out and photographing optical phenomena in the natural world. He referred to his landscape photographs as “dynamic landscapes,” due to both the fast-changing nature of light and conditions and his energetic pursuit of the best camera position at the optimal moment. Rowell wrote about the quest for such images in his books Mountain Light (1986), Galen Rowell's Vision (1993), and Inner Game of Outdoor Photography (2001). Rowell used 35mm Nikon cameras and lenses almost exclusively for their reliability and portability. His main media choice was colour slide film, beginning with Kodachrome in the 1970s and 1980s and Fuji Velvia following its introduction in 1990. Rowell conceived a technical approach of extending the dynamic range to be captured on film. He developed a set of graduated neutral density filters and had them produced by Singh-Ray, a filter manufacturer. They were sold under his name and became a standard for dealing with a high contrast scenes. Galen Rowell also mastered the technique of using balanced fill flash which allowed him to lighten the deepest shadows in a subtle way to match the relatively narrow dynamic range of colour reversal film. He won the Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography in 1984. He had numerous photographic assignments for Life, National Geographic, Outdoor Photographer, and various other publications. Rowell was also a highly regarded writer on subjects ranging from photography, humanitarian and environmental issues, human visual cognition, and mountaineering, publishing numerous magazine articles and eighteen books in his lifetime. His In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods about the history of mountaineering on K2 (1977) is considered a classic of mountaineering literature, and his 1986 book Mountain Light: In Search of the Dynamic Landscape is one of the best-selling how-to photo books of all time. Rowell’s portfolio can be found here. Below is a small collection of his masterpieces.
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