Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich, 1918
You probably thought images meant photographs—and most on this list are, but not all. Modern outdoor recreation owes much of its heritage to the Romantic Movement that started in the late 18th century. Where the Enlightenment Movement before it had been inspired by intellectual rationalism carried out in secluded places like Voltaire’s garden or Jefferson’s Monticello, the Romantic Movement celebrated the raw power of nature, set in dramatic landscapes like the Alps, to inspire and transcend the everyday. Our modern love of exploring sublime landscapes traces all the way back to this movement. If you were to change this painting to a photograph, and update the wanderer’s wardrobe, you would have an image that would be just at home in glossy magazines and Instagram feeds.
The Grizzly Giant by Carleton Watkins, 1861
In 1864, Abraham Lincoln was the President in the midst of a bloody, protracted civil war and a tough wartime re-election campaign when Carleton Watkins’ images of Yosemite made it to the White House. Shot on mammoth 18 x 22 inch plates, Watkins’ images were the first photographs that Lincoln, and the American public, had seen of Yosemite and the American West. They convinced Lincoln to declare Yosemite inviolate—a prescient move over a decade before Yellowstone became the first national park—a move that would never have been possible without Watkins’ photographs.
Clearing Winter Storm by Ansel Adams, 1937
The most famous image by the most famous photographer in history, this image remains the standard by which landscape and nature images are judged nearly 80 years later. Adams, of course, popularized landscape photography, and specifically landscape photography of the wilderness of the American West—like no other ever has. His lifelong relationship with Yosemite and its vantage points, his extraordinary patience to wait for weather and light—matched by his meticulous skills in the darkroom—made his images possible. And this photograph’s combination of composition, texture, and drama is the reason it’s never been surpassed.
Ron Kauk Free-Soloing Beside Yosemite Falls Galen Rowell, 1984
An equally famous, but very different image of Yosemite, showcases climbing legend Ron Kauk climbing unroped next to Yosemite Falls with Half Dome in the distance. It did more than popularize rock climbing. it ushered in the age of extreme sport photography. It was one of the first images that portrayed outdoor sports as both an athletic endeavor and an intimate experience with nature. Before this shot, those intimate experiences were the province of hikes, early-morning canoeists, and quiet birdwatchers; after it, adrenaline, athletic skill, and appreciation of natural beauty could all be one. Rowell, himself a skilled climber, shot the image from a handhold on the rock not far from Kauk.
Earthrise by Williams Anders, 1968
On Christmas Eve, Anders shot this image through the porthole of Apollo 8 in lunar orbit on the first manned mission to the moon. It’s been called the most influential environmental photograph ever taken, and many credit it with helping launch the modern environmental movement. It shows Earth as a lonely, fragile, beacon of blue floating in outer space, with the barren lunar surface in the foreground. Not only is it supremely beautiful, it’s a perspective of our planet that in all likelihood we’ll never see.
Gray Wolf by Jim Brandenburg, 1990
Wolves have gotten a bad rap for centuries—they were even hunted to extinction throughout the western US. After such ruthless treatment, it’s not coincidental that just a few short years after Brandenburg’s image (part of a larger project photographing wolves across Canada and Alaska) that momentum began building for reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone National Park, and then to the wilderness of Central Idaho. The reintroduction spawned a cascade of recovering ecosystems, and the gradual process of understanding predators not as villains, but as integral parts of a healthy ecosystem.
Circle of Barracuda by David Doubilet, 1987
In 1987, underwater photography was no picnic. Using strobes with short battery-life, and a clumsy Nikonos camera that required regular oiling, Doubilet captured the magic of undersea life like nobody had since Jacque Cousteau. This image, made in 1987, captured a glimpse of the majesty and mystery of life under the sea, and it presaged what the digital revolution would make easier in the following years.