Carleton Watkins

• Watkins was a landscape photographer in the late 1860's to the early 1900's. The picture above is titled The Three Brothers at Yosemite. Watkins is one of the most highly acclaimed Western photographers of his time; as he influenced many by capturing the true beauty of landscape.
• One his most famous pieces is of Yosemite and the Pacific coast. As a kid Watkins was very interested in the Pacific Railroad, which helped him later in his career because he learned how to capture the true beauty of landscape, and how to tell a story about a specific movement just through photographs.
• Even though Watkins is considered the greatest Western photographers he has not been full catalogued. To get a view of some of his great works got to www.carletonwatkins.org
• Now the reason I chose this photo is because Yosemite is a beautiful place and the way he captured this part of the park is amazing.
• I really enjoy how he was able to catch the reflection of the mountains in the water.
• And the photo is kind of split in half, it goes from darker on the right side to lighter on the left.
• And this is a photo where he does use the rule of thirds well, and it makes the photo a lot more appeasing to the naked eye.
• I think it would've be neat if somehow Watkins could've made ripples in the water by skipping a rock, or have a friend agitate the water somehow then take a picture.
• Overall, Watkins was a pioneer for how photographers took and take landscape pictures. An interesting fact; he never really had his own place to develop photos, so he would bring all his equipment with him and find a place.