I promised to give a little more about the Ansel Adams Exhibit now on at George Eastman House. It's been up for a little more than a month and I've now had a chance to look more carefully at the superb Black and White and Parmelian prints. Beyond the artistic excellence and outright beauty of the images, the most impressive part of the exhibit is the effect that Adams' life and work had on the preservation and conservation of America's wilderness areas.

It got me thinking about (and planning some trips this summer, too !!) the largest wilderness area in the Eastern United States, the Adirondack Forest Preserve. It is to the credit of conservationists like Bob Marshall, founder of the Wilderness Society and Seneca Ray Stoddard, prolific photographer of the Adirondacks in the 19^th century, that this part of New York State retains the character of wilderness.

Stoddard did not get the acclaim that photographers of America's Western Wilderness received. His work was more commercial than that of William Henry Jackson, and, for that matter, Ansel Adams.

Conservation remains a purpose of many of today's great photographers. In fact there is a consortium whose mission is to further environmental and cultural conservation.

Also, on a less serious note -- Wilderness is Where the Wild Things Are.

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