Peak Howse

This photograph is printed using a black and white process in which the negative is laid over the gel emulsion of silver nitrate which reacts to UV light and produces an image. 

In many of Richards’ nature photographs the mountains pose a universal paradox; an ever-present reminder of nature’s power and its fragility. In this photograph, the dark coniferous trees form an inverted pyramid that frames Howse Peak, with the summit shielded by a layer of fog. Howse Peak is the highest mountain in the Waputik Mountains, a sub-range of the Canadian Rockies, named after Hudson’s Bay Company explorer and trader, Joseph Howse. 

Richards’ work compels viewers to look at the mountains with a different perspective. Rather than describe, he tries to evoke the drama of nature and seeks to capture the arresting ​“quiet beauty” of the Rockies. For Richards, accepting the challenge of making two-dimensional images of this grand landscape, has become an obsession of the heart: ​“The mountains challenge me to find a voice that will express not where I have been but who I am.”