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Landscapes Entrées to the Peace of the World

Early morning mist rising from the asphalt of a lonesome road, the echoing solitude of a mountain lake—landscape photography, at its best, fulfills our longing for beauty and serenity.

“Landscape photography can soothe the soul,” says Cris Guenter, Education, who has exhibited her photographs for 30 years, regionally as well as internationally. “When we are feeling troubled or anxious, as we have been recently, these images allow us to go to a place that’s restful and calming.”

Guenter, along with art education specialist Michael Simmons, Art and Art History, and Juri Brilts, Sponsored Programs, are the creators of CALIFORNIA NORTH: An Homage to Ansel Adams at 100, a photography exhibit on display now through Nov. 29 in the Humanities Center in Trinity Hall. Brilts has also exhibited his photographs locally and nationally; Simmons has taught art education for 24 years.

The three traveled throughout the North State photographing scenes from the Sacramento River, Lassen Volcanic National Park, and the Redwood National Forest, as well as jewels in their own backyard, such as Bidwell Park, upper Humboldt Road, and the Midway.

Searching for images, noting the light and atmosphere, Simmons says he often enters a “singular rapport with the environment.” It is the placidness of these moments—reflected in the play of light and shadow or the starkness of a leafless branch against a blank sky—that often comes through to the viewer of the finished photograph.

Lisa Kirk