PROJECTS | TRAVELS IN THE AMERICAN WEST

PROJECTS TRAVELS IN THE AMERICAN WEST 

These photographs, made between 1985 and 1990, explore the two great obsessions with the western landscape—the romance of the wild frontier and the need to conquer and control that very same wilderness.
In the spirit of the first surveyors who traveled with pack mules to bring back the photographs that helped establish the first National Parks, my survey explores the effects of the automobile, tourism, and development on the landscape, and how it continues to be shaped by the great myth of the American West. “Travels in the American West” was published in 1992 by Smithsonian Press.
Photos by Len Jenshel
Best Western Mammoth Hot Springs, Gardiner, MT

Best Western Mammoth Hot Springs, Gardiner, MT

Arches National Park, UT

Arches National Park, UT

Cattleguard, Great Basin National Park, NV

Cattleguard, Great Basin National Park, NV

The Mittens, Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, AZ

The Mittens, Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, AZ

Dante’s Point, Death Valley National Monument, CA

Dante’s Point, Death Valley National Monument, CA

Rt 127, near Death Valley National Monument, CA

Rt 127, near Death Valley National Monument, CA

Great Basin National Park, NV

Great Basin National Park, NV

Goulding's Lodge, Monument Valley, UT

Goulding's Lodge, Monument Valley, UT

Joshua Tree National Park, CA

Joshua Tree National Park, CA

Zion National Park, UT

Zion National Park, UT

Mural, State Highway 128, near Cisco, UT

Mural, State Highway 128, near Cisco, UT

Study Butte, near Big Bend National Park, TX

Study Butte, near Big Bend National Park, TX

The Cholla Garden, Joshua Tree National Park, CA

The Cholla Garden, Joshua Tree National Park, CA

Bristlecone pine, Bryce Canyon National Park, UT

Bristlecone pine, Bryce Canyon National Park, UT

Dante’s Point, Death Valley National Monument, CA

Dante’s Point, Death Valley National Monument, CA

Moonset from Kenosha Pass, Route 285, CO

Moonset from Kenosha Pass, Route 285, CO

Death Valley National Monument, CA

Death Valley National Monument, CA

"The Narrows," Zion National Park, UT

"The Narrows," Zion National Park, UT

Near Zion National Park, Springdale, UT

Near Zion National Park, Springdale, UT

Mural, Lander, WY

Mural, Lander, WY

Painted Desert, near Tuba City, AZ

Painted Desert, near Tuba City, AZ

PROJECTS | TRAVELS IN THE AMERICAN WEST

PROJECTS TRAVELS IN THE AMERICAN WEST 

These photographs, made between 1985 and 1990, explore the two great obsessions with the western landscape—the romance of the wild frontier and the need to conquer and control that very same wilderness.
In the spirit of the first surveyors who traveled with pack mules to bring back the photographs that helped establish the first National Parks, my survey explores the effects of the automobile, tourism, and development on the landscape, and how it continues to be shaped by the great myth of the American West. “Travels in the American West” was published in 1992 by Smithsonian Press.
Photos by Len Jenshel
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