The Weekly Photograph #22
Road to Muddy Gap
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Entry #22 from The Work
Road to Muddy Gap
from the Carbon County Project
pigment print f. 4x5” film
40x50”
Road to Muddy Gap was made on a hilltop overlooking the stretching plains north of Rawlins, Wyoming. Beyond the mountains in the distance lies Muddy Gap and the old Oregon Trail. While I was working in Wyoming and making these images, the history of migrations across this land loomed heavily on my mind. I imaged the terror and excitement that must have accompanied the people who were crossing such difficult terrain two hundred years ago, as ironically enough how easy it was for me today. The road itself here stretches off into the distance in a gesture that I often return to. The pull of the highway, both in terms of its promise and peril, motivates a lot of my work. The vast expanse of sky minimizes the low lying land as the gesture of road curves into the frame.
Compositionally I dropped the horizon with the camera’s front rise movements as I saw the sky transform in front of me. This adjustment laid the groundwork for what I see as a rather abstract reordering of what, at first, was a rather straightforward scene.
When I set up the camera for this image, two boys drove up on an ATV and asked me if I had seen any lost sheep. I politely said no and that I was actually not spotting for wild life but a photographer of the American Landscape. They posed for a portrait along the nearby fence. It is not a common occurrence when two photographs are made in such close proximity, but this proves that the process of working, of putting one’s self into the world, will open up more possibilities.
John Sanderson
”The Work”
3/20/2025
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Journal introduction from The Work
The American landscape in my time. Thousands upon thousands of miles traversed in search of pictures.
They become pictures when I see something.
Something which cannot be explained in words, only related to on some level of empathy.
Feeling with the light, subject or an arrangement of the two.
Driving, walking, searching deeper and longer for that which eludes me.
What I search for is unattainable.
But what keeps me coming back is the Quest, for those moments where a picture lines up with my imagination.
It is a complete circle.
"To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield." -Tennyson
I really love this photograph. For many reasons, probably. Including that it resonates in parts of my mind and memory with other landscapes - in remote parts of Oregon, Nevada, Washington, Colorado and other places I have driven across - often in epic road trips spanning days - occasionally at odd times of day or night - and in a bewildering (to me, at least) variety of both weather conditions and lighting. And what you describe as "the pull of the highway" also resonates - both conceptually, and within this particular image - as well as in my own past. Short version of the above--it's a very cool image.
It also reminds me of a line from a George Harrison song--
“If you don't know where you're going, any road'll take you there”
It's a treat to read the thoughtful commentary which accompanies this photograph, as well. Thanks, John.
Beautiful work, John!