Adirondack Solitude

Solitude is hard to find these days, and harder still to capture in an image. But that’s just what award-winning photographer Russ Hartung does in his photographs of the majestic peaks and intimate views of the Adirondack wilderness. Adirondack Solitude explores the feeling of being on top of a mountain before sunrise and watching the light change over landscapes of unbroken wilderness; the serenity of drifting across a misty lake in a kayak and hearing a loon’s echoing call in the distance; the chorus of enveloping rain from a sudden thunderstorm while on the trail, and the answering symphony of peepers along the shore heard from the warmth of a tent in the evening. And it’s the vicarious feeling Hartung shares when he sees someone paddling slowly across a shrouded lake in the fog or a lone figure staring off towards the horizon from atop a rocky outcrop at the end of a hard climb. Whether it’s a wide-open view at the top of a High Peak or the miniature world brimming over in a hidden rock pool, both the towering and the tiny inspire this sort of awe-inspiring connectedness. Adirondack Solitude will give readers the key to peaceful and meditative presence among the Adirondacks no matter where they are.

By Russ Hartung