Tracing a historical path

Mark Bowie felt like a time traveler as he trekked across the Adirondacks from 2000 to 2007 to gather images for his latest book.

His quest had its roots in the days when the third-generation photographer was growing up at Glens Falls. His father and grandfather would often reprint works of famed Adirondack photographer Seneca Ray Stoddard.

Mr. Stoddard (1843-1917), of Glens Falls, was primarily a self-taught photographer. In addition to photographs, he published magazines, maps, souvenir albums and guidebooks to popularize the Adirondacks as a tourist destination and promote the conservation and preservation of the region.

"I've been a fan of Stoddard since I was a little kid," Mr. Bowie said from his home in Pittsfield, Mass. "He was just flat-out good."

Mr. Bowie traveled across the Adirondack region — from Glens Falls to Paul Smiths and from Lake George to the region's "Central Lake Country" — finding and photographing the exact locations Mr. Stoddard captured.

The resulting book, "In Stoddard's Footsteps — The Adirondacks Then & Now," was co-published by North Country Books, Utica, and Chapman Historical Museum, Glens Falls.

Mr. Bowie's photographs are accompanied by text written by him and Timothy Weidner, executive director of the Chapman Historical Museum, a major repository of the Stoddard collection.

Mr. Bowie will speak about the book Sunday at the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake, Hamilton County.

The then-and-now images reveal fascinating changes. Mr. Bowie called them a "visual puzzle."

"They compel us to search for the similarities and differences between them and to fill the gaps along the historical path between Stoddard's Victorian era and our contemporary times," he said. "Each brings us face to face with living history."

Mr. Bowie could not capture the same landscape Mr. Stoddard saw, which is a testament to the preservation efforts at the park the past several decades.

"I found it very difficult to get into some of his areas," Mr. Bowie said. "Before the efforts of the Adirondack Park and Forest Preserve, they used clear-cut timbering."

Mr. Bowie said Mr. Stoddard's photographs are even more amazing considering the painstaking process he used. He used glass plates that early in his career had to be coated with emulsion. Within two minutes of shooting images, he had to process them using a gelatin.

"Then he had to get them back to the studio," Mr. Bowie said.

In the book, Mr. Bowie notes that the advent of dry plates in 1879 allowed photographers to process their work in the studio.

"He used different papers and toners for artistic effect," Mr. Bowie wrote in the book. "Albumen (egg white)-coated paper gave his prints remarkable depth with a lustrous sheen."

Mr. Bowie used a large-format camera and also 35mm film and a digital camera for his images.

Many of Mr. Stoddard's photos feature large groups of people posing for him. "Especially on the balconies of hotels," Mr. Bowie said. "He was either very persuasive or the medium was so new that people readily agreed. If I tried that, I'd be driven out of town."

"In Stoddard's Footsteps" grew from an article by Mr. Bowie for the magazine Adirondack Life. Many of the before-and-after shots in the article were then displayed at Chapman Historical Museum.

Mr. Bowie's first book, "Adirondack Waters: Spirit of the Mountains," was published in 2006. "The Adirondacks: In Celebration of the Season" is scheduled for release this year.

'FOOTSTEPS' TALK: THE DETAILS

WHAT: Photographer Mark Bowie compares images in his book, "In Stoddard's Footsteps — The Adirondacks Then & Now," to the original versions by photographer Seneca Ray Stoddard.

WHEN/WHERE: 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake, Route 28N.

COST: No cost for museum members or for children elementary school age and younger. All others pay $5.

MORE INFO: Call the museum at 1 (518) 352-7311. On the Web: adirondackmuseum.org