<p>Supposedly similar, yet different</p>
<pre><code>Sometimes, there is more than just the visible; sometimes, one has to meander deeply into the forest of life to truly know the worth of ones surrounding. Caspar Friedrichs Early Snow and Ansel Adams Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico portray the same principal elements: a landscape and its sky. While Adams photograph Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico suggests the promising vastness of the universe, Friedrichs painting Early Snow portrays the abundance of life in nature, and the true insight one needs to uncover its true potential. Through the juxtaposition of the vast sky and the seemingly dwarfed landscape in Ansel Adams photo, and the mighty elevation of the forest in Caspar Friedrichs, one can see that these two images are truly contrasting their views of Mother Nature.
A white pathway laid in rock, and pine trees covered in snow. These are the objects that catch ones eye at first. Yet upon further examination, we discover a more vital production. In Friedrichs Early Snow, the further the inspector travels into the forest, the taller the trees grow, reaching the pinnacle in the far end of the image. Compared to the small, inconspicuous pine trees first encountered, the last array of trees seem to fortify into a pitch black wall. It seems as if Friedrich wanted to showcase the vastness behind nature–that it is something more than just trees and logs. Through the absence of animal life, one can only assume that Friedrich wants the viewer to believe that life, truly arises from nature. That no life can exist without it. The small, dwarf trees scattered in early in the painting depict the inferior life forms outside of nature; the further you dig into the roots of this forest, the mightier life will appear to one. Then, we discover the small patch of sky left for us to devour. Cloudy, and seemingly separated from the rest of the universe, this streak of sky further points at the insignificance of life outside of nature. Limiting the skys intrusion into the forest scenery, a sense of protection is invoked. It seems as if the trees indeed built a fortification to protect its citizens from the influence of the outside. Similar, it is as if the winding road is purposely covered by a set of pine trees to suggest that finding your way into the heart of nature can prove itself as tricky. One may have to excavate and look into places that others would fail to observe. Then, one becomes distracted by the golden shimmers cast off by the broken pathway and the trees apex. Arousing an image of a golden castle, it seems as if Friedrich wants to portray this fortified entity as a golden kingdom. Furthermore, a clustering of pine trees almost seem buried beneath the rocky sand, almost purposely drawing attention to that fact that, sometimes, natures most promising entities may seem inconsequential, when in fact, one just has been blinded to the point where the true core of these entities seems invisible. Showcasing natures true worth, Friedrich delineates the true value of nature and its life forms.
Ansel Adams Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico portrays the exact opposite. Displaying a vast sky above the seemingly inferior landscape, Adams suggests the complexity and enormity of the worlds above. Left in black and white, Adams tries to persuade the viewer into believing that nature is colorless. He only leaves the one true aspect he cares about in its authentic manner–the black emptiness that is portrayed by the deep skies. One first sees the small bushes perfectly arranged, portraying a feeling of conformity. Through Adams concept, the spectator presumes that believing in nature and accepting her ideas, one truly becomes a conformist. He leaves the village and all of its tainted objects in a neat, orderly line, further implying the sense of conformity. Drawing out the uneven parallels of the clouds, Adams tries to convey the freedom and spaciousness of the infinite universe. Leaving more than half of his photograph dedicated to the blackness of sky, he only dots it with his precious moon. Mankind has always dreamt of conquering this object of the vast skies. So many wanted to name this prized entity of rock theirs and have become obsessed. With this contrast, Adams wanted to lure the reader into assuming all of the universe should be this prized. Furthermore, Adams captures a graveyard in the right corner of his photograph, showing his distaste and morose attitude towards nature herself. Qualifying nature as decomposing, Adams tries to distract the readers from nature and onto a more vast universe, further highlighted by the almost translucent view of the clouds staggering on top of the mountain lining, seemingly separating the mundanity of the earth below from the limitless sky above.
Even though the painting by Casper Friedrich and the photograph by Ansel Adams seem so similar to the quick glance, truly, they portray opposing views on Mother Nature. Through their opposing usage of landscape dimension, these artists were capable of capturing two different stories with the same elemental foundation.
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