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[Giant Redwood, Santa Cruz]

Creator

American Photographer · 1829–1916

AmbrotypistPublisherArtist

At twenty, Carleton Watkins headed out to California to make his fortune. After working as a daguerreotype operator in San Jose, he established his own practice and soon made his first visit to the Yosemite Valley. There he made thirty mammoth plate and one hundred stereograph views that were among the first photographs of Yosemite seen in the East. Partly on the strength of Watkins's photographs,

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Date: 1880s
Medium: Albumen silver print
Culture: American
Department: Photographs
Institution: Getty Museum

Carleton Watkins began photographing California's colossal trees as early as 1860, recognizing both their historical and aesthetic significance. To people outside the state, tales of the grandeur of those trees seemed like folklore. To provide a sense of scale, Watkins often placed a figure at the base of the tree, as in this image of a giant redwood. The sign posted on the tree at the left advertises a "Moonlight Party in the Big Trees," while to the right of the redwood, a platform suitable for dancing awaits.

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