Light in the West: Photography and the American Frontier

1980 / 58 min. / color
Directed Ray Witlin

Narration taken from the letters and journals of the photographers: Carleton Watkins, Eadweard Muybridge, A.J. Russell, William Henry Jackson, T.H. O’Sullivan.

When photography was in its infancy, the American West was still a frontier; and, for a period of about fifty years, the two interacted in a complex and fascinating way. Dramatic subject matter in the West became accessible to photographers just when the newly-discovered wet-plate process enabled them to work outdoors. Thereafter, Western explorers consistently used photography to record their discoveries. It was primarily through the resulting photographs that the frontier became known. Ironically, these early images hastened the demise of the frontier they so beautifully documented.

Light in the West rediscovers this empire through the eyes (and camera lenses) of the extraordinary men who were the first photographers to venture west. At a time when making photographs was as difficult as traveling in uncharted wilderness, these men truly were pioneers.

The photographers in Light in the West are now recognized as masters of photography. The film’s narration consists of extracts from their diaries which chronicle their explorations.