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The Nature Side of Things

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The Nature Side of Things

The Nature Side of Things As I walked through the Art Institute of Chicago there were so many pictures and paintings with a wide variety of shape, color, and tone. Looking at these paintings and photos only one can think what was the painter or photographer intention? Well I ask myself that question about two photographs made by Carleton Watkins and Tokihiro Sato. In Watkins photograph of Mendocino River, from the Rancherie, Mendocino County, California shows a peaceful view of the river in the highlands of Mendocino County. Sato’s photo is a forest in Oregon with orbs of light glowing at the bottom of the forest floor. Both pictures have their similarities but also their differences as well. Carleton Watkins is perhaps the most famous early western photographer. He found international fame for his award winning photographs of Yosemite, San Francisco, the Pacific coast and subjects throughout the western states. Watkins is best known for his mammoth plate photographs but actually published the majority of his work as stereoviews. They represent a comprehensive look into California and the West from the 1860s through the 1890s (Watkins). In the late 1854 Watkins met photographer Robert Vance who had a gallery and began working for him and it was here that he learned the photographic techniques and processes that he would perfect during his career (Watkins). Watkins photograph of Mendocino River, from the Rancherie, Mendocino County, California is on Albumen silver print from wet-collodion glass negative. When viewing this in person it had that old and worn out look to it. But most of all the color still remained in pretty good shape. The image has a light sepia color to it. It has various shades of grey and black to sharpen the intensity of the trees. The sky is a very light grey with white which is caused from the mist or fog in

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