Galen Rowell
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Galen Rowell (August 23, 1940 - August 11, 2002) was a noted wilderness photographer and climber. Born in Oakland, California, he became a full-time photographer in 1972.
Rowell was introduced to wilderness at a very young age, and began climbing mountains at 10 years old. For the next 52 years, he climbed mountains and explored the wilderness. He began taking pictures on excursions into the wild so he could share his experiences with friends and family. After graduating from Berkeley High School, he stayed in Berkeley to study physics at the University of California but dropped out after four years to pursue his love of climbing. He was never formally trained as a photographer.
In 1972, Rowell sold his small automotive business and became a full-time photographer. Within a year, he had completed his first major assignment; a cover story for National Geographic. Rowell pioneered a new kind of photography in which he was not merely an observer, but rather he considered himself a participant in the scenes that he photographed - he considered the landscape part of the adventure, and the adventure part of the landscape. From 1968 on, he used 35mm Nikon cameras and lenses exclusively because of their quality, reliability, and portability.
His climbing/adventure accomplishments included:
- More than 100 first ascents of technical climbs in the Sierra Nevada
- First one-day ascent of Denali (on which his camera froze)
- First ski circumnavigation of Denali
- First one-day ascent of Kilimanjaro
- First ascent of Great Trango Tower in Pakistan's Karakoram Himalaya
- First ascent of Cholatse, the final major peak climbed in the Everest region
- First ascents of numerous lesser-known but challenging peaks around the world, including the Andes, Alaska, Pakistan's Karakoram Himalaya, Tibet, Nepal, China, Greenland, etc.
- Oldest person to climb Yosemite's El Capitan in one day at age 57
He was very well-known as a photographer: Ansel Adams considered Rowell to be his most likely successor, and he was often referred to as the Ansel Adams of color photography.[citation needed] He won the Ansel Adams award for wilderness photography in 1984. He had numerous photographic assignments for Life, National Geographic, Outdoor Photographer, and various other publications. Rowell was also a highly regarded writer on subjects ranging from photography, humanitarian and environmental issues, human visual cognition, and mountaineering, publishing numerous magazine articles and eighteen books in his lifetime. His In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods (1977) is considered a classic of mountaineering literature, and his 1986 book Mountain Light: In Search of the Dynamic Landscape is one of the best selling how-to photo books of all time. Also an energetic advocate for the causes he believed in, Rowell served on multiple advisory boards and boards of directors for organizations ranging from the Committee of 100 for Tibet to the World Wildlife Fund.
Rowell was particularly keen on seeking out and photographing optical phenomena in the natural world. He referred to his landscape photographs as “dynamic landscapes,” due to both the fast-changing nature of light and conditions and his energetic pursuit of the best camera position at the optimal moment. Rowell wrote about the quest for such images in his books “Mountain Light," "Galen Rowell's Vision," and "Inner Game of Outdoor Photography."
He and his wife Barbara Cushman died with charter pilot and another passenger in a plane crash near Bishop, California, the site of his home and studio, "Mountain Light Photography".
A major retrospective book on his life, career, and impact on the various worlds he touched has been published by Sierra Club books. Galen Rowell: A Retrospective ISBN 1578051150.
Rowell's work is on display at Mountain Light Gallery, in the Eastern Sierra Nevada town of Bishop, California.
