Iron Gate Dam and Fish Hatchery, Klamath River, California, 11-30-2024Wards Canyon After Dam Removal, Klamath River, California, 11-10-24at Topsy and the Former John C. Boyle Dam, 10-27-2024After Removal – Iron Gate, Copco No 1, and John C Boyle Dams – Autumn 2024
Human Nature, 2017 – present
Communication Towers with Snow, Horse Mountain, California, 2-8-25.California Condor 746, Also Known as Paaytoquin – Mentor, August 18, 2024.Kitty Ward’s Horse Drawn Mower with Seedlings, Copco Springs, Overlooking the Klamath River, California, 5-20-24.Wards Canyon at Former Site of Copco 2, November 9, 2023.Fall Creek, Fish Friendly Culvert with One That’s Not. Copco Village, 9-23-2023. Heart Rock at Water’s Edge, Copco Lake, California, July 31, 2023.Iron Gate Reservoir, Top Down View at the Narrows, June 18, 2023.Without Pic-Nic Bench, Wanaka Spring, Iron Gate Reservoir, 11-10-23.Pic-Nic Bench, Wanaka Spring, Iron Gate Reservoir, California, June 11, 2022.Oak Bottom Boat Ramp, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, California, 1-17-2023.US Borax, Boron, California, 1-16-2023Little Head with Pier, Trinidad, California.Fairview Boat Ramp, Trinity Lake Reservoir, California, June 10, 2022One of Samuelson’s Rocks, Joshua Tree, California, 11-11-16.Big Rock Big Truck, Humboldt Bay, California, 8-7-2020.Komatsu, Humboldt Bay Trail, Arcata, California, 7-3-17.Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, Colorado River for the Arizona Side on 12-3-2021.Whiskey Town Reservoir, 11/13/16, 10:09 AM.at the Iron Gate Resevoir, California, 6-17-22.at the Iron Gate Dam, California, 6-17-22.at Joshua Tree National Park, California, on November 16, 2016.
Arcata and Humboldt Bay, 2005 – 2016
Sierra Pacific Mill, Mad River Slough and State Route 255, 2016, 30 x 60 pigment printMcDaniel Slough, 20 x 31 photograph, 2005 by Joseph WilhelmLevee at Mad River Slough and Arcata Bay, California, 2005View South From Foster Road, Arcata Bottom, California, 2005McDaniel Slough_2005, 20×40Gannon Slough and Arcata Bay, 6/24/17.Shopping Cart, Palco Marsh Eureka, CA, 2005 Humboldt Bay Billboard No1, 12×18, 2014. Whirlpoool, McDaniel Slough, Arcata Bay, CA, 2013Removing MacDaniel Slough Tide Gate, Arcata Bay, CA, 2013MacDaniel Slough Culverts, Arcata Bay, CA, 2013Incoming Tide, Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary, CA, 9-25-2013Water Trough triptych, Salt Marsh, Arcata, 2014Sofa, Arcata Bottom, 2014Anonymous Poem for the Fallen Barn, Arcata, CA, 2015Exporting Logs, Humboldt Bay, 2011Devil’s Playground – Rest in Peace
Alongside the Road, 2005 – present
You Learn Nothing By Sitting in the Car, Ballarat, California, 2007I Love You, Sheephole Pass, California, 2007Shoe Tree at Intersection of Harry Wade Road and Highway 127, Mojave Desert, California, 2007Shoe Tree, North of Walker Lake, Highway 95, Nevada, 2006
If Tears Could Build a Stairway, Northeast of Twenty Nine Palms off Amboy Road, CA, 2007Jet Fighter, Northwest of Darwin Off Highway 190, California, 2007Humboldt Bay Billboard No1, 12×18 photograph by Joseph Wilhelm, 2014. www.josephwilhelm.comFive Historic Fence Posts with Rusty Nails, Bald Hills Road, Redwood National and State Parks, California, October 21, 2022.Five Crosses at Sunrise, South of Yucca Mountain, Highway 95, Nevada, 2006Burnt Motorhome, Southeast of Susanville off Highway 395, CA 2005No Use El Rio Como Un Escusado, Russian River off Hwy 101, CA, 2009Farmers Kill Salmon, Hoopa, California, 2003You Learn Nothing By Sitting in the Car, Ballarat, California, 2007
Alongside the Road, 2005-2016
Alongside the Road is a collection of spontaneous photographs documenting time and place of sites along various roadways. They’re often the places between destinations. One’s journey often provides the best opportunity to see something unexpected, to be reminded of the fragility of life, to experience an expression left by others, or to just revel in being on the road again.
This series began in 2005 with a Canon EOS 1D Mark II. It was a breakthrough SLR camera at 8 megapixels – enough resolution for a magazine spread. Prior to this, I would have needed the 4×5 scanning camera tethered to a computer and at least an hour of free time. It was quite liberating to be mobile and untethered from the computer.
Since then, the novelty of mobile digital photography has super-bloomed. Today, most travelers with their phones simply snap countless photographs and post to Instagram or share with family without much sweat. Photography has gotten easy – everyone’s doing it.
Land Marks, 2002 – 2007
Samuelsons Rock No 1, Joshua Tree, CA, 2007Petroglyphs, Inyo County, CA, 2003Samuelsons Rock No 1, Joshua Tree, CA, 2007Painted Rocks, Trona, CA, 2004Mt Irish Petroglyphs, Nevada. Photograph by Joseph WilhelmPainted Rock, Alabama Hills, CA, 2002White Cliffs Petroglyphs, Inyo County, CA, 2003Ubehebe Bunch, Death Valley, CA, 2004The Journey, Chloride, AZ, 2003Chloride and Petroglyph, Chloride, AZ, 2003Factory Butte, Utah, 2003Inscription PointNo Horses, White River Narrows, Nevada, 2004Mt Irish Petroglyphs, Nevada. Photograph by Joseph Wilhelm
Landmarks, 2002-2007
To really see a photograph, one will see more than the literal word in which we describe light, object, and color. When seeing digs deeper, a photograph gains meaning beyond these things and perhaps from this we’re moved to feel something, appreciate, inspire, maybe even question, or wonder. It’s not all about beauty and the pursuit of perfect form. This is true with any art.
But if not for beauty to hang on a wall, then for what? A good answer for me has always been, “for the experience.” I’m a curious person and the point is to wander and wonder and discover something outside the ordinary. A closer look through photography is a greta way to learn about the world we see.
At the time of these photographs, photography was a harder process than it is today but it was the midst of the digital revolution and despite the time consuming nature of learning things anew the challenge was exciting.
Each of these images required many hours of work. They were made with a 4×5 Linhof view camera and Betterlight Scanback tethered to an Apple laptop computer with Photoshop. Except for the Linhof and I, it was all “state of the art” for digital photo technology. At fifty pounds of gear and a handful of chances per lead acid battery nothing was ever a snapshot.
Every photo mattered and much care went into their making. This often meant waiting for the right light, enough light, or for the wind to settle down. Exposures could be ten minutes long or more. Unlike ordinary cameras, scanning camera exposes line by line, motion blur is undesirable.
For each of these places and for most of these photos I lingered for hours. Far too much falls outside the frame. If in addition to the words and marks, if one imagines the smell of desert sage after a summer rain, the sound of silence or the sweet song of a canyon wren, the touch of hot sand, an overhead jet, the rough texture of granite and volcanic rock I say thank you. Thank you for completing the picture. These are the things that help connect and communicate the culture of place.
Dry Earth, 1990 – 1993
Antelope, California Academy of Sciences, 1993
Street Light, Plano Trabuco/Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, 1992Culvert with Cracked Sky, 1990Power Poles, Mission Viejo, CA, 1991Conveyor, Lake Forest, CA, 1991Fort Churchill Under a Big Sky, Nevada, 1992Sandbags, Mission Viejo, CA 1991Remembering Van Gogh, 1990Trout from the Arcata Coop, 1990Rock Fish, Monterey Bay Aquarium, CA, 1990Untitled, California Academy of Sciences, 1993Grevy’s Zebra, California Academy of Sciences, 1993Black Lechwe, California Academy of Sciences, 1993
Dry Earth (1990-1993)
These images are from my younger self, a medium format camera, and traditional darkroom methods commonly practiced prior to the “digital revolution.” My roots are seen here.
At the time of producing this work my primary exploration focused on the landscape and how it has changed and is being changed by human activity. At the time, I felt the landscape could not be photographed in an imagined pristine state and remain “truthful” to modern time. Back then, I wondered if nature wasn’t as dead as a diorama at the California Academy of Sciences or as alive as a rockfish at the Monteray Bay Aquarium.
All photographs are silver gelatin original prints.
