ails show a man on the way to a flourishing and satisfying career. But beneath all this were the beginnings of Watkins' incredibly bad luck in business and the development of the unique aesthetic that would place him on a par with, and somewhat apart from, the finest landscape photographers of the nineteenth century. In Watkins' case the power of his images and whatever unique qualities they possessed were the crucial element in his hopes for success in business.
Watkins' trip to Yosemite was, as Naef puts it, "a gesture of flamboyant competitiveness" with C. L. Weed who had photographed the valley in 1859. Weed had accompanied the first group of sightseers to visit the valley. The travelers' accounts were published and created a demand for pictures of the sites. Weed's photographs followed but their quality -- both technical and artistic -- was not very high and the pictures "achieved a very limited distribution and reputation." Watkins had clearly surveyed the competition and decided Yosemite was the place where could make his individual mark. (Six years later he was pursued in the same fashion by Eadweard Muybridge.) Although, curiously, they do not appear to have been available until 1863, Watkins' mammoth-plate views of Yosemite succeeded in gaining the attention he desired. In 1863 Oliver Wendell Holmes praised the Yosemite scenes in the Atlantic Monthly and an important New York Gallery displayed the pictures in their windows.
The next few years were a series of triumphs. In 1864 public opinion, "formed in large measure by Watkins's powerful landscape photographs", led to the Congressional decision to declare Yosemite "inviolate". This was the first such action and it was to lead to the formation of the national park system. It was especially significant for Watkins who was becoming heavily identified with the site. Important landscape painters such as Albert Bierstadt admired the work and "freely employe...