American landscape photography has deep roots in the Adirondack region. Keeseville native William Henry Jackson was attached to the 1871 Hayden expedition at the same time Glens Falls native Seneca Ray Stoddard was creating photographs for his evergreen book The Adirondacks Illustrated. Jackson’s photographs of the Yellowstone wilderness helped convince the United States Congress to establish the first national park in 1872. Stoddard’s magic lantern shows of North Country subjects promoted the idea of an Adirondack Park, which finally came into being in 1892.
Other historic photographers such as George Baldwin, William Perviance, G.H. Reising, and Florence van Sandt laid the groundwork for contemporary artists such as Nathan Farb, Jonathan Esper, Carl Heilman, Mark Kurtz, and Russ Hartung, whose work is now the subject of a new book—Adirondack Solitude: Peace and Stillness in the Adirondack Wilderness, from Globe/Pequot Press and North Country Books.
Hartung described his lifelong love affair with the Adirondacks.
“My images come from an exploration of the back roads, trails and waterways of the park. Sometimes these images are happy accidents,” Hartung explains, “but more often come from repeatedly spending time in a specific area until that special moment presents itself. My main focus is landscape photography but capturing images of wildlife is a growing passion.”
The book launch and exhibition or Hartung’s photographs opened at Whitcomb’s Community Space gallery of Whallonsburg Grange on September 10. Whitcomb’s Chair Vicki Copeland reported that all books on hand the night of the opening found buyers, along with a number Hartung’s prints.
“Hartung plays with light and focus to give the viewer the physical sensation of being there,” says Copeland.“He manages to create that tactile sensation of solo paddling on a foggy pond or the quiet solitude at the top of a mountain on a crisp autumn day. He sets the scene so that the viewer feels immersed in it.”
Hartung told me at the reception that his influences include Ansel Adam and Bert Wolf. The body of work he exhibited, reproduced in his new book, might be divided into three distinct narratives—panoramas viewed from magisterial perspectives, intimate portraits of wildlife, and ground-level views of lakes, fields, and woods. Artists might play one genre against another, just as a way of keeping things fresh. I once asked a famous author if he had a trick for writing dialogue. “First I write it in verse,” he said, “Then let it slip into the vernacular.” Craftsmanship makes art comprehensible, but poetry makes it memorable.
Hartung’s photographs dodge eye-candy pitfalls with a powerful sense of design. One of his sweeping vistas captures a cloudburst passing over foothills, bathed in golden light. Hovering against a black backdrop beside Scarlet Beebalms (Monarda didyma) is a female Ruby-Throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris). Trees ablaze with autumn hues in another photo stand behind frosty meadows, wreathed in a silvery mist. The book-cover image for Adirondack Solitude evokes Zen-like simplicity. The lone paddler drifting into a soft Cyan twilight dares viewers to explore The North Country’s savage beauty lying just beyond our doorstep.
—James Lancel McElhinney © 2025
The exhibition remains on view through October 25 at Whitcomb’s Community Space. 1568 New York State Route 22 in Whallonsburg, NY 12936. GPS: 44.26443° N, 73.40255° W.
Adirondack Solitude is available from the Globe Pequot publishing group: https://www.globepequot.com/9781493089819/adirondack-solitude/, and locally at Snow Fort Books, 6592 Main Street, Westport, NY 12993. https://snowfortbooks.com/
Visit the artist’s website at: https://www.russhartungphotography.com/ or you can follow him on Facebook at Russ Hartung Photography https://www.facebook.com/RussHartungPhotography
Listed on Adirondack A & E: https://adirondackaande.com/ —the leading source for information and updates on cultural events in The North Country
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Gorgeous!♥️