Laura Gilpin took the photograph of “The Grand Canyon” at the beginning of her photographic career when more than composition, context was unnoticeably allowed to take over. The image was taken after the death of a dear friend. Emptiness drove her to shoot the image as it was. “You were holding out your arms to me smiling and urging me forward”(Gilpin qtd.
in Davidov, 349). I have to agree with Davidov when she said that Gilpin felt “intimacy and identification” when she took the image. The photograph was unspoken communication between the image and the photographer.She felt the emptiness inside and she wanted to identify with someone who felt exactly the same way as she did and this empathy was given to her by the image.
Gilpin’s “The Grand Canyon” shows the image of a dying old tree in a cliff. While at first glance it evokes a feeling of “farewell” and “detachment”, a longer look will give us a feeling of “fighting against farewell” and “fighting to stay for a little longer”. From this, it follows that it takes a while before the viewers finally understand why this picture was called “The Grand Canyon”. Perhaps Gilpin chose the word “grand” to show how old the tree was.
When we refer to something as “grand”, we think of something lordly or prominent. We think of a majesty. And indirectly, these words (lordly, prominent, majestic) suggest a feeling of seniority and beauty. “Canyon” was used as a metaphor for the tree. When we think of canyons, we think of fierceness and violence.
Canyons bring intensity; thus, the assumption that the tree is fighting against detachment.Let’s take a closer look at the metaphors in the title: “grand” – majesty – suggests being “lordly aged” / old and beautiful “canyon” – intensity – suggests “fighting against detachment” The Grand Canyon” could be interpreted as “a beautiful farewell” but at the same time it suggests the desire to stay. The image observed the Rule of Thirds with the camera at medium shot enough to capture the valleys below the cliff and a foreground of land and rocks on which the tree stood. With the photographer just a few feet way from the image, he held the camera at least a feet and a couple of inches from the ground.
The primary focal point of the image was the trunk of the tree highlighting the trunk’s texture. I could say that lighting was natural and that this shot was taken either during sunlight or sunset.The hues and shadows of the sunrays are evident in the image. All the elements of photography helped set the mood for the feeling that the image is trying to evoke. For the framing, the valleys as background suggest “the call for a farewell” while the land on which the tree stood and the rocks surrounding it as foreground suggests “the fight against farewell”.
The lighting which was directed to the trunk added a little drama. It evoked confusion and loneliness for the tree whether he was ready to let go or still stay. The content, context and the composition work all together to tell the story of a photograph.Its title, “The Grand Canyon” can be interpreted as “a beautiful farewell but I still want to stay”. This mood tells us how the photographer was feeling at the moment that she took the shot. She simply wanted to identify with something and indeed; after the death of a dear friend, what is to feel but the emptiness and confusion that “a farewell” leaves us with? This emotion is made visible to us by the composition.
As mentioned above, the background suggests a “call of farewell” while the foreground suggests “the feeling of wanting to stay”.
