Barbara Cushman Rowell
January 29, 1948 - August 11, 2002
Galen and his wife, Barbara died Sunday in a plane crash
near Bishop, California.
Galen was a huge influence in my wanting to take pictures.
I met Galen through my friend Bob, and only talked to him
once. It was a lavish private honoring of Galen in Berkley,
California. Many high-brow people were there, including a
few celebrities that talked about Galen through video. I was
very moved, after seeing all of the fascinating places that
he had seen.
After the show, when Bob introduced me, I asked Galen how
he achieved the effect of looking right toward the sunset
and still being able to see the foreground. He seemed relieved
to take a break from the compliments, and took me away from
the crowd to explain his invention of "Multi-stop gradient
filters".
This was very interesting to me and I became much more intrigued
by nature photography. I also noticed that even though, he
was nearly 60, he had the voice and attitude of a teenager.
For the past few years, prior to this meeting, I looked at
myself as someone who would never hike or climb mountains
because I felt that because of my leg problems, it just wasn't
part of my future.
A day before meeting Galen, I was helping quadriplegic patients
at a medicinal ranch near Oakland California. I had a chance
to talk to most of the patients and to really understand what
it was like to not have the option to walk, or do about anything
on your own.
I had a chance to know what it is like to not be able, and
then a chance to see what you can do when you are able. And
I knew I was missing too much of this world. So I started
hiking.
I was just looking through some of his photography books on
Saturday. On Sunday, I visited his web site, and read most
everything about him and his wife Barbara, the same day they
died.
I found out through a phone call from Bob today. I am deeply
saddened
Monday, August 12, 2002
Message Board
Page Posts: 1
NAME
CITY
DATE
Maryann Ruprecht
Littleton
2008-06-07
I only knew Galen Rowell through his work and a video tape on photography, but feel I knew who he was as a person and an interpreter of nature and art. He and Barbara went too soon. We need life-affirming,dreams come true lives like they lived together. While cleaning out some stuff, I came across a National Geographic from April 1989. In it I found a treasure of an article and photographs by Galen. It's titled "The John Muir Trail. Along the High,Wild Sierra. I had climbed Mt. Whitney, there in the Sierra with my Mother and Dad and big brother,Tom back in 1984. It was 'an adventure of a lifetime'. My Dad and brother, Tom are gone now. We will never do that again,although, at the time of the climb, I thought we'd do other mountains together. I'll never forget that trip, it lives inside me still. Galen's article helped me go back again to the John Muir Trail,to the time we spent together there and, to the young woman with so many dreams of adventures to share with those I love. Thanks for your site and for giving me an opportunity to share my memories here. I don't know if this qualifies to be "comments", but I just felt free to express how Galen affected one life.
