SIERRA OVERTURE - PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHARLOTTE GIBB -
The Ansel Adams Gallery | Yosemite National Park, CA
Good Morning, Yosemite | size 40 x 60"
SIERRA OVERTURE ARTIST STATEMENT
“Sierra Overture” is a collection of photographs that celebrate both the fleeting and lingering beauty of Yosemite and the greater Sierra Nevada Mountains through the seasons. For over a decade, I have returned to both familiar and secret places in order to observe the changes brought about by changing chroma, light and weather. My camera captures what the eye cannot see -- blurred waterfalls, snowflakes frozen in time – but also what my mind and heart perceive. Anchored in my deep connection to Yosemite and the Sierra, these lyrical scenes seek to score the ineffable experience of exploring its sublime landscape. Like washes of paint across a canvass of rocks, trees and waterfalls, the painterly compositions are observations about color as it appears in nature’s light, as if drawn from the imagination, a fantasy or a dream. Looking through the clutter and messy business of nature, I seek to conduct a sense of order in these works, yet retain visual and conceptual awareness of their complexity. My goal is to invite the viewer to take in Yosemite and its broader range more intimately, discovering a deeper acquaintance through photography. As with poetry, the images are meant to instill greater meaning with each reprise. These photographs are frequently symbolic, with an eye toward the subtle and sometimes overlooked elements of nature. They are not meant to be pretty postcards, but rather frames that celebrate form, line, shape, color and texture. I combine everything I know about the technology of modern photography with my artistic aesthetic, aiming to compose stirring imageries that distinctively illuminate Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada range.
WINTER'S FURY Original photograph, signed and numbered by artist Archival pigment photograph Multiple sizes available
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CATHEDRAL ROCKS IN SNOW Original photograph, signed and numbered by artist Archival pigment photograph Multiple sizes available
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WINTER MOONRISE Original photograph, signed and numbered by artist Archival pigment photograph Multiple sizes available
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THE MIRACLE OF LIFE Original photograph, signed and numbered by artist Archival pigment photograph Multiple sizes available
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Enchanted Forest | size 40 x 60"
ENCHANTED FOREST Original photograph, signed and numbered by artist Archival pigment photograph Multiple sizes available
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BRIDALVEIL WINTER INTO SPRING Original photograph, signed and numbered by artist Archival pigment photograph Multiple sizes available
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GOOD MORNING YOSEMITE Original photograph, signed and numbered by artist Archival pigment photograph Multiple sizes available
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SPIRIT OF POHONO Original photograph, signed and numbered by artist Archival pigment photograph Multiple sizes available
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SPIRIT OF POHONO STORY BEHIND THE IMAGE Yosemite National Park is a place near and dear to my heart. I have spent countless major life milestones here — birthdays, anniversaries, anything that mattered was an excuse to head to Yosemite and spend as much time as work and duty would allow. Ultimately, it would be time to leave paradise and head home. Departing the Valley, I’d look toward Bridalveil Fall, wave “au revoir, until next time,” always a bit choked up. For whatever reason, on this day I decided not to stop at my customary spot and to just hurry home. As I drove past Bridalveil Fall, ready to blow a kiss goodbye, I saw this scene. I braked hard and pulled over. The clouds had parted, and sunlight streamed in at a sharp angle, lighting plumes of mist drifting across the scene. In a brisk wind, the falling water from Bridalveil Fall is often blown sideways. When the flow is light, it may not reach even the ground directly below. Because of this, the Ahwahneechee people called this waterfall “Pohono,” which means Spirit of the Puffing Wind. This photograph was made in early Spring, and the runoff was heavy, creating beautiful plumes of mist rising up into the warm light of the late morning sun. I had to tear myself away.
THE GRACEFULNESS OF LIGHT Original photograph, signed and numbered by artist Archival pigment photograph Multiple sizes available
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BEHIND THE VEIL Original photograph, signed and numbered by artist Archival pigment photograph Multiple sizes available
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WHEN THE FOREST STIRS, YOSEMITE Original photograph, signed and numbered by artist Archival pigment photograph Multiple sizes available
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WHEN THE FOREST STIRS STORY BEHIND THE IMAGE I love Springtime in Yosemite. As the snow melts in the high country, down in the valley waterfalls gush with misty rainbows, rivers roar, and meadows transform into reflective shallow lakes. Best of all, sleeping Pacific Dogwood trees burst open with cheerful, white flowers. This graceful understory tree only thrives in a few areas around Yosemite. They are particular about where they plant their feet. Not too much sun, and not too much shade. Not too much water, and not too dry. They are Goldilocks trees. When they are happy, the Dogwood can grow quite tall. This single Dogwood was a very large, mature tree, and it was covered with flowers. In the fading evening light, I watched its long, lateral branches with delicate white blossoms moving gracefully in the wind, like hundreds of dancing miniature ballerinas. Rather than trying to freeze the motion, I decided to use a long exposure to express the movement of the flowers in the breeze. I made dozens of frames, each one slightly different until it was completely dark. Even then, the white blossoms shone like lights in the night.
TUOLUMNE MEADO
Original photograph, signe Archival pigme Multiple size
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OWS - PANORAMA
ed and numbered by artist ent photograph es available
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MORNING HAS BROKEN Original photograph, signed and numbered by artist Archival pigment photograph Multiple sizes available
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SENTINELS Original photograph, signed and numbered by artist Archival pigment photograph Multiple sizes available
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HALF DOME, MORNING LIGHT Original photograph, signed and numbered by artist Archival pigment photograph Multiple sizes available
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Half Dome, Morning Light | size 40 x 60"
BRIDALVEIL FALL Original photograph, signed and numbered by artist Archival pigment photograph Multiple sizes available
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THE MIGHTY PONDEROSA Original photograph, signed and numbered by artist Archival pigment photograph Multiple sizes available
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ROOM 504 (AHWAHNEE HOTEL) STORY BEHIND THE IMAGE In 2011, my husband and I celebrated my birthday with a weekend at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite Valley, as we have almost every year since we married. For a birthday present that year, he gifted me a private, half-day guided photography tour with one of the pros from The Ansel Adams Gallery. I had practiced photography for decades — mostly street photography with a distinct lean towards photojournalism — but I felt frustrated with my attempts to photograph Yosemite in a way that expressed my deep affection for the place. A half day with an expert changed everything. Mike Reeves, an Ansel Adams Gallery staff photographer, took me on a little photo tour around the Valley to places I’d never ventured. He lent me one of his personal pro lenses and tripod, and from that day forward, I was on a creative path that would change how I saw and photographed the park. It was the perfect birthday present! Since then, I’ve returned to the Gallery for other workshops and classes, always pushing to expand knowledge of my craft. Through the Ansel Adams Gallery, I continued to learn from the masters of Yosemite photography — Michael Frye, Kieth Walklet, and Charles Cramer. Some of these workshops took me out of my comfort zone. For example, Kerik Koulis taught a platinum/palladium prints workshop, which took me back to memories of working with chemicals in my old darkroom. This photograph was made some years later when, again, my husband and I were celebrating our anniversary at the Ahwahnee. I was sitting in our guest room sipping my morning coffee in my bathrobe when I noticed the beautiful light playing across Upper Yosemite Fall. I was mesmerized. I retrieved the longest lens in the camera bag, set up the tripod in the room next to the window and started playing. This photograph holds the distinguished honor of being my best photo made while being completely lazy.
ROOM 504 (AHWAHNEE HOTEL) Original photograph, signed and numbered by artist Archival pigment photograph Multiple sizes available
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THE VALLEY BECKONS Original photograph, signed and numbered by artist Archival pigment photograph Multiple sizes available
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TANDEM RAINBOWS, UPPER YOSEMITE FALL Original photograph, signed and numbered by artist Archival pigment photograph Multiple sizes available
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TUOLUMNE MEADOWS STORY BEHIND THE IMAGE Although Tuolumne Meadows is less visited than Yosemite National Park's more famous valley, with its towering cliffs and dramatic waterfalls, the high country is also breathtakingly beautiful as well. Tuolumne Meadows is a gentle, dome-studded landscape where the Tuolumne River tumbles through on its way toward the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. It is the largest subalpine meadow in the Sierra Nevada. Perched at 8,619 ft. elevation, Tuolumne Meadows is inaccessible by automobile during the winter months. However, during Summer, it is a destination for rock climbers and is the point of departure for backcountry backpacking excursions. I love to explore the many hiking trails around the meadow. At sunset, I try to choose a vantage point where I can watch the alpenglow on the domes and peaks surrounding the meadow. On this day, the sunset started out very lovely and soft. And then, the sky exploded into shades of fuchsia and purple contrasting with the bright summer greens of the meadow grass.
Tuolumne Meadows, Panorama | size 22 x 64"
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THE ANSEL ADAMS GALLERY VILLAGE MALL YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA 95389