The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum’s newest exhibit, “Grand Canyon Photographs: Celebrating the Centennial 1919 through 2019,” honors the 100th anniversary of the designation of the national park.
The photography exhibit opened on March 1 and will be running until June 9 in the Fidelity Gallery. Mark Burns, photographer of the exhibit, previously had his series on American national parks at the museum from Nov. 30, 2015, to March 21, 2016. The photography was shot half on 8×10, 4×5 and 6×17 panoramic film cameras and half on medium format digital cameras and DSLR digital film cameras.
Burns said he had a variety of experiences in the Grand Canyon over his time capturing the national park that were both challenging and rewarding. He said the previous exhibit he had at the museum covering all U.S. national parks led to the current exhibit focusing solely on the Grand Canyon.
“I’ve had many, many experiences that have been wonderful,” Burns said. “They’ve been hot; they’ve been freezing cold; they’ve been everything in between. It’s a whole lot of work doing what I did and just about every experience as a photographer you can think of but very rewarding in the end.”
As most of his work is in black and white, Burns said he likes for viewers to look into his photographs and see the detail in the pieces.
“I deal on a lot of subtleties, so you have to spend some time looking at the photographs to really understand a lot of the subtleties that are going on with them,” Burns said. “I like to say that I sometimes prefer to print smaller photographs because I like people to look into my photographs rather than to look at them.”
Warren Finch, director of the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, said after being the first to host Burns’ exhibit on the national parks from late 2015 to early 2016, they were glad to have his work on the Grand Canyon as well.
“We’ve had experience with Mark, we know he’s a great photographer,” Finch said. “When we found out he was doing photographs of the Grand Canyon, we were happy to bring them in.”
David Anaya, director of marketing and communications for the museum, pointed to President George H.W. Bush’s photo in the Grand Canyon National Park as one of the most popular images from his life.
“All the people who visit our sites — which has been like hundreds of thousands of people, especially during his passing — have gone there and have seen that photo,” Anaya said.
Anaya said Bush knew Burns for years, and once compared him to the famous nature photographer Ansel Adams.
Since Bush’s passing, Anaya said the museum is working to continue to honor his legacy and has seen the community’s loving support.
“We’re going to continue to do our best to honor President Bush’s legacy,” Anaya said. “We’re just so thankful to all the outpouring of caring and love from the public that’s happened in the last few months, and we just hope that people can come out and learn a little bit more about our 41st President and learn about these great exhibits that we have.”