Shorey as Artist
Guy Shorey was an artist, who shared his love of nature with his fellows by capturing and disseminating images of the White Mountains that he loved.
Shorey’s early relationship with the mountains was clearly up-close and personal, with viewpoints deep within the forests and high atop the summits of the peaks. Alas, his hiking days were destined to end comparatively early in his life. In 1921, at the age of forty, Shorey took his last serious hike. Arthritis, which had plagued him for so long, put an end to his mountain tramping. Shorey turned this adversity to opportunity, as he intensified his roadside photography. No longer having to backpack his equipment, he could utilize heavier and bulkier apparatus, and added a 7” x 17” Korona panoramic camera to his arsenal to make impressive images of the White Mountains.
With the panoramic camera, he made more than 350 photographs that portrayed the splendor and variety of the heights and valleys of the White Mountains. These images more than hinted at his personal enthusiasm for the area, and by no accident were also successful commercially. Most were in horizontal format, accentuating the meandering valleys and arching ridgelines. Some were vertical, demanded by the soaring white trunks of birches or deep clefts of rushing waterfalls.
Even in Shorey’s earliest personal photo albums, we see hints of the artist – his appreciation for natural shapes, the play of light, and inspiring outlooks. As his technical ability and eye matured, his creativity grew, as did his desire to share his mountain visions with others. His large-format landscapes are perhaps the best example of his photographic skill and his enduring connection to The White Hills.