Seneca Ray Stoddard

As I've been thoroughly enjoying out nightly Adirondack reads, I've found a lot of satisfaction looking at the attached images. One artist in particular always catches my eye: Seneca Ray Stoddard. His photography beautifully displays the intense beauty of the park but focuses more on the human pattern of influence in the park, ultimately with the goal of providing an honest window into the extent of human impact in the Adirondacks.

One important theme to his work is the forever wild theme of the Adirondacks. His photography is meant to display the beauty of the park. I personally find it so impressively beautiful and honestly more powerful to see the park through a camera that isn't perfectly modern. The picture below shows the different features of the park in an ideal form.

As he focuses on the people in the park, he shows the many different sides to the business life in the park. What I appreciate is the honest scenes he displays with beauty and purpose. His artistic style reminds me a lot of how Terrie writes. It's always about the struggle of people to survive in the park, telling their stories in the most disconnected way possible.

Stoddard then used these glimpses into the life in the Adirondacks to support the Forever Wild clause. He lobbied regularly to the New York State Legislature. His photographs were powerful because they told the truth more than text ever could. Stoddard's art had beauty and purpose connected together in its powerful capturing of the Adirondack golden age.

Source:

http://courses.hamilton.edu/stoddard/seneca-ray-stoddard-a-case-study