Grand Canyon exposed

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

By Henry Sweets

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-The Grand Canyon is mesmerizing. So much so that some people never leave it behind.

Photographer Gary Ladd is one of those people. He has explored the Canyon for 40 years with a camera, capturing on film the exotic light and epic geology of the region. Ladd will visit the Teton County Library on Thursday to talk about his photographic experiences in and around the canyon with a slideshow presentation “Forty Years in the Grand Canyon.”

Two of his photos are currently on display at the library as part of the Smithsonian traveling exhibition “Lasting Light: 125 years of Grand Canyon Photography.”
Ladd is one of many shutterflies obsessed with the canyon because of its size and function as a natural sieve of light, making it a photographers destination since soon after the first pioneers arrived there.

Formed over hundreds of millions of years - first with rock formed by rising and falling seas, and then by tectonic uplift and an incisive Colorado River - the Grand Canyon contains thousands of vertical feet of geology, with thousands of coves, nooks and vistas running its 277 miles of length.

Volcanoes have dammed it up, and the dams have burst. Faults crisscross its walls and the movements of the earth can be easily imagined by gazing at them.
Ladd has taken dozens of river trips, backpacking trips and day hikes in the canyon. He leads tours and gives photographic instruction for a few different organiztions, and has had photographs published in Newsweek, Life and National Geographic Adventure.

He also likes to photograph Lake Powell, which lies north of the canyon and his home in Page, Arizona, which sits at the mouth of the canyon.

Attendees will learn things photographical, historical and geological relating to the Grand Canyon, and will see some beautiful photographs at the presentation. JHW

Gary Ladd will speak, 7 to 9 p.m., Thursday, at Teton County Library. The photography exhibition that contains two of his photos will hang until July 16.

COURTESY TC LIBRARY/GARY LADD
Gary Ladd, Grand Canyon photographer, will speak at the library.

PERMALINK:
Grand Canyon exposed | Planet JH News Article: General News

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