Byron Wolfe

This book blends personal observations on Yosemite with reflections on photography and aesthetics, tourism and public life, and the histories of environmental and social politics. Rebecca Solnit's linked essays are interwoven with stunning images old and new: the book combines classic pictures by Eadweard Muybridge, Ansel Adams, and Edward Weston with painstakingly re-photographed versions to show the startling changes wrought over time -- by nature and humankind. Yosemite in Time paints a multifaceted portrait of a natural treasure that reflects the most compelling issues of our time.

In 1875, after being acquitted for the murder of his wife’s lover, Eadweard Muybridge spent a year photographing along the Central American Pacific Coast, particularly in Guatemala and Panamá. Upon his return to California in 1876, he published a very limited number of albums of the photographs (11 are known), each of which was unique in size and scope. In 2007, photographer Byron Wolfe (born 1967) tracked down and cataloged every known Muybridge Central American photograph. Then, with cultural geographer Scott Brady, he traveled to many of Muybridge’s sites to rephotograph them. Through photographic collage, interpretive rephotography, illustrations and essays, this book examines an exceptionally rare series by Muybridge. Also included is a catalogue of every known Muybridge Central American picture.