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Saturday 20 August 2011

Timothy H. O'Sullivan: Dwarfed (Wheeler Survey of the One Hundredth Meridian, Arizona/Nevada, 1871)


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Columnar basalt at the mouth of Grand Wash in Arizona. Photo by T.H. O'Sullivan.U.S. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian (Wheeler Survey, 1871 Expedition).

Columnar basalt at the mouth of Grand Wash in Arizona

Grand Canyon, looking below the mouth of the Diamond River in Arizona. Photo by T.H. O'Sullivan.U.S. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian (Wheeler Survey, 1871 Expedition).

Grand Canyon, looking below the mouth of the Diamond River in Arizona

Cathedral Mesa on the Colorado River in Arizona. Photo by T.H. O'Sullivan. U.S. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian (Wheeler Survey, 1871 Expedition).

Cathedral Mesa on the Colorado River in Arizona

Light and shadow in the Black Canyon of the Colorado river in Nevada, viewed from Mirror Bar. Photo by T.H. O'Sullivan.U.S. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian (Wheeler Survey, 1871 Expedition).

Light and shadow in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River in Nevada, viewed from Mirror Bar

Black Canyon of the Colorado River, looking above from Camp 8 in Nevada. Photo by T.H. O'Sullivan.U.S. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian (Wheeler Survey, 1871 Expedition).

Black Canyon of the Colorado River, looking above from Camp 8 in Nevada

Entrance to the Black Canyon of the Colorado River in Nevada. Photo by T.H. O'Sullivan.U.S. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian (Wheeler Survey, 1871 Expedition).

Entrance to the Black Canyon of the Colorado River in Nevada

Wall in the Grand Canyon. Photo by T.H. O'Sullivan.U.S. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian (Wheeler Survey, 1871 Expedition).

Wall in the Grand Canyon

Saguaro cactus in Arizona. Photo by T.H. O'Sullivan.U.S. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian (Wheeler Survey, 1871 Expedition).

Saguaro cactus in Arizona

Rock carved by drifting sand below Fortification Rock in Arizona. Photo by T.H. O'Sullivan.U.S. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian (Wheeler Survey, 1871 Expedition).

Rock carved by drifting sand below Fortification Rock in Arizona

Eroded strata near Cottonwood Springs, Nevada. Photo by T.H. O'Sullivan.U.S. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian (Wheeler Survey, 1871 Expedition).

Eroded strata near Cottonwood Springs, Nevada

Iceberg Canyon on the Colorado River in Nevada. Photo by T.H. O'Sullivan. U.S. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian (Wheeler Survey, 1871 Expedition).

Iceberg Canyon on the Colorado River in Nevada

Photos by Timothy H. O'Sullivan (1840-1882), from U.S. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian under Lieutenant George M. Wheeler, 1871 Expedition (U. S. Geological Survey Photographic Library)

4 comments:

STEPHEN RATCLIFFE said...

Tom,

Further 'evidence' here of filling that space between foreground and "vast distant horizon" (resonates with something here, from yesterday)- - - -

8.19

light coming into fog against invisible
ridge, shadowed shape of cypress branch
in foreground, wave sounding in channel

density of matter, not only
but that seen present

space, imagined to be given,
with physical meaning

grey white fog against invisible ridge,
pelican flapping across toward horizon

TC said...

Steve,

The space between foreground and horizon, I have thought, is what Temporality also fills --

that seen present

space, imagined to be given,
with physical meaning --

and the curious fleeting or diminished presence of the human in these photos, the very long exposure time actually perhaps allowing the photographer himself, were he so "inclined", to enter the picture (that is, the picture of the geology)... a nano-dot of living temporality in amid all that rocky

density of matter

Ed Baker said...

this is where Stone Girl resides:

at the entrance to The Black Canyon
where
the Colorado River .... enters

this IS a Sacred Place that is
above all else

to be Honored and Respected and (yes), even Worshiped

I even think that that is "her" standing at the water's edge

"she" as these rocks so do simultaneously resides in many places

(and)
what DOES "she" think?
one kiss from this "blind man"
&
I will tell you

TC said...

Edster,

That's so beautiful to think on, it would bring tears to the eyes of a stone.

All the sacred places in all the pictures we have ever seen dwell inside us... and then we are gone.

Though the rocks are still there.