PETER ESSICK
The Minarets (3,740 m - 12,270 ft)
United States of America (California)
For National Geographic
The mountains
The Minarets (3,740 m - 12,270 ft) are a series of jagged peaks located in the Ritter Range, a sub-range of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the state of California. They are easily viewed from Minaret Summit, which is accessible by auto. Collectively, they form an arête, and are a prominent feature in the Ansel Adams Wilderness which was known as the Minaret Wilderness until it was renamed in honor of Ansel Adams in 1984.The peaks were named in 1868 by the California Geographical Survey, which reported: "To the south of Mount Ritter are some grand pinnacles of granite, very lofty and apparently inaccessible, to which we gave the name of 'the Minarets.'" Seventeen of the Minarets have been given unofficial names, including Michael Minaret, Adams Minaret, Leonard Minaret, and Clyde Minaret. Clyde Minaret, named after Norman Clyde, is the tallest of the spires. The Southeast Face Route of Clyde Minaret is a technical rock climb featured in Fifty Classic Climbs of North America.
The photographer
Peter Essick is a photographer, author, speaker, instructor, and drone pilot who specializes in nature and environmental themes. Named one of the 40 most influential nature photographers in the world by Outdoor Photography MagazineUK, Essick has been influenced by many noted American landscape photographers from Carleton Watkins to Robert Adams. His goal is to make photographs that move beyond mere documentation to reveal in careful compositions the human impact of development as well as the enduring power of the land. Essick is the author of two books of his photographs, The Ansel Adams Wilderness, and Our Beautiful, Fragile World. He has had solo exhibitions of his work at the Booth Western Art Museum, Yoho National Park: A Canadian Gem, and at Lumière Gallery, Compositions in Nature.Essick has photographed stories for National Geographicon many environmental issues including climate change, high-tech trash, nuclear waste and freshwater. Other work has been published in international magazines. Essick's photographs are in public and private collections. He is represented by Lumière Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia and Cavan Images, New York, New York.
Currently, Essick is working on a book of his photographs about Fernbank Forest, an urban old-growth forest in Atlanta, and will be published by Fall Line Press in the October 2019.
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2020 - Wandering Vertexes..
by Francis Rousseau