Friday Night’s Program
Keith S. Walklet, Karl Kroeber and Mike Osborne
Stone Soup: Behind the Scenes of First Light
Program Description:
Ansel Adams led regular trips into the Yosemite backcountry as part of his efforts to protect
its rare beauty and pristine nature and, as a result, introduced thousands to
its wonders. Inspired by his example, the Yosemite Fund asked five well-known
Yosemite photographers, Charles Cramer, Karl Kroeber, Scot Miller, Mike
Osborne, and Keith S. Walklet, to echo Adams’ early efforts to
bring a vision of the wilderness to the general public. The result is an
unusual collaborative effort that runs counter to typical photographic
projects. Three of the photographers will join us for Friday evening’s
presentation, “Stone Soup: Behind the Scenes of First Light”
Only a tiny fraction of visitors ever see the park’s one thousand
square-mile wilderness, a region of almost indescribable raw beauty that
surrounds the more well-known Yosemite Valley, yet for five years beginning in
2001, these photographers spent a part of their summers exclusively exploring
its remote reaches. The camaraderie that developed between the five is
evident in the reminiscences and musings that accompany their superb
photographs. The result of this uncommon collaboration is a book of expressive
thoughts and images, each imbued with its creator's distinct style.
Join Karl Kroeber, Mike Osborne and Keith S. Walklet as they share this unusual
recipe for success with a multimedia presentation that goes behind the scenes
and well beyond the 75 color images of the book, sharing the adventures and the
beauty of the backcountry through the eyes and words of this accomplished team.
Copies of the book signed by all five photographers will be available after the
presentation. I have encouraged Mike to also bring copies of his new book on
the Yosemite waterfalls, “Granite, Water
and Light”.
Attendees of the Ansel Adams Workshops and The
Yosemite Association Outdoor Adventures will be familiar with Mike and Keith,
who often teach together.
Karl Kroeber Bio:
Karl Kroeber is a writer and fine-art photographer with particular interest
in the Sierra Nevada and the American
Southwest. His photographic work has appeared in a variety of publications,
including the journals of The Yosemite Fund, Peninsula Open Space Trust, and
Natural Resources Defense Council as well as the magazine Sierra Heritage and
the book Yosemite
Falls: An American Icon
(The Yosemite Fund and the Yosemite Association, 2006). Karl was born and
raised in Berkeley, California, and is a third-generation
Californian on both sides of his family. For the past thirty-four years he has
lived with his wife, Anita, in the house they built in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
They have two grown sons, both working artists, and both of whom have hiked the
entire 211-mile John Muir Trail.
Mike Osborne Bio:
Mike Osborne recently retired after a thirty-year career as a ranger in Yosemite National Park, including eight seasons
as a wilderness ranger. Mike has photographed nature for more than thirty-five
years. His images have been used in promotional programs and literature
supporting The Yosemite Fund and the Yosemite Association. He is also the
author of the book Granite, Water, and Light (Yosemite Association and Heyday
Books, 2009), an interpretive and photographic paean to the waterfalls of Yosemite Valley.
Keith S. Walklet Bio:
A native of the East Coast, Keith S. Walklet traded a daily commute (from Connecticut to New York City),
and most of his belongings, for a camera and motorcycle, with which he explored
the continental United States
and Alaska.
Arriving in Yosemite
National Park in 1984 for
“one winter,” he set about documenting its grand scenes and subtle
beauty first with 35mm, then 6x7 cm and 4x5 field cameras. The “one
winter” became fourteen years and found Walklet overseeing interpretive programs
for the primary park concessioner. He is the author/photographer of two
Yosemite books, and his work has appeared in practically every medium,
including Audubon and Sierra Club calendars, Backpacker magazine, and National
Geographic.
Link to the Book:
http://www.heydaybooks.com/photography/first-light-five-photographers.html