Jay Carhart, 2021
Moon and Half Dome by Ansel Adams offers an insight into realist photography during the modernist period. The use of black and white photography makes Half Dome contrasts dramatically with the backdrop of the dark sky. The silvery slivers of rocks and cracks protrude, showing the different imperfections of the open rock face. The photo has grand proportions, Half dome towers over the viewer consuming nearly 2/3rds of the image. The moon in the background looks like a small marble compared to one of the greatest monuments of the natural world.1
The towering Half Dome appears menacingly in front of the viewer. The framing of the shot makes the observer look up, towards the rock, half dome staring down at you. Nothing else from Yosemite Valley appears in the frame. While there are other peaks in the region, like the larger El Capitan, the photo makes Half Dome seem like its own world, just a mountain and a few sparse trees covered in snow. The shadow projected on Half Dome one of the only instances of other rock formations in the area, appears relatively small against the face of the mountain, adding to the monumental proportions of the peak. We have nothing to compare Half Dome to from the ground, forcing us to look at the moon instead, effectively putting the mountain on the same level as the moon, in both size and beauty.
The aggrandizing of the rock face holds the reason for the popularity for this photo. Half Dome’s commanding stance in the photo evokes emotions of the beauty of nature, much like other photos by Adams. The physical beauty of Half Dome matched with the simplicity of the photography makes a fitting tribute to one of America’s natural wonders.
References
- Moon And Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, 1960, Ansel Adams
