Up the Valley from the Foot of the Mariposa Trail, Yosemite, no. 9

Carleton E. Watkins' mammoth-plate photograph captures Yosemite Valley's iconic granite formations—El Capitan on the left, Cathedral Rocks on the right—framed by coniferous forest and meadow. Shot during the early period of American landscape photography, Watkins' large-format images established documentary standards for Western scenery and influenced both artistic and scientific understanding of the Sierra Nevada. His systematic approach to composition, using the valley's natural geometry to structure the scene, helped define landscape photography as both art and geographical record.