The earliest photographs we have of Vashon were taken in the 1880s, and photographers have been capturing images of the island ever since. These photographs provide a fascinating look into our past, giving a visual accompaniment to the many stories and accounts we have of the island’s history.

Norman Edson is one of the photographers whose photographs have given us a peek into Vashon’s past. Edson came to Vashon in the early 1920s, already trained as an artist and a photographer. His rigorous schooling in Canada and France prepared his eye for making some stunning photographs. Likely his best-known work, “Sun’s Last Glow,” is a photograph of Mount Rainier taken from the north end of Vashon, framed by majestic firs and hand-tinted by the photographer.

He was the only professional photographer on the island for years. There were some significant amateur photographers who did extraordinary work, like Albert Therkelsen, but Edson was Vashon’s professional photographer who made the art his career. Edson had his own studio, his own dark room and printed, and sometimes hand-tinted, his own photographs. Edson used both glass plates and film to create his photographs and worked mainly with a large format, wooden box camera. Edson would mount the large camera on a tripod with a focusing cloth to allow him to see and focus the image on his ground glass.

Nearly one century after Edson began photographing on Vashon, much has changed in the world of photography. Terry Donnelly came to Vashon in 1994 as an emerging landscape photographer and, in the years since, has developed a national reputation with photographs used regularly by National Geographic, the Sierra Club and the Nature Conservancy.

Donnelly’s photograph, “View of Mount Rainier,” is a good contrast to Edson’s “Sun’s Last Glow.” Digital sensors have replaced glass plates and film. Lightweight composite and metal handheld cameras have replaced heavy and bulky large format wooden box cameras. Built-in image stabilizers have replaced tripods; LCD screens have replaced focusing cloths, and computers, software and high-resolution digital printers have replaced darkrooms and chemical processing. Donnelly needs only a small backpack to carry all the equipment needed — a small camera and lightweight tripod.

The two photographs of Mount Rainier shown above are good examples of the changes in techniques and sensibilities that have evolved between Edson’s and Donnelly’s photographs. While the tools and technical aspects of photography have changed dramatically, the creative fundamentals of the medium remain largely unchanged. Photographers today still find that the fundamental elements of light, color, moment and composition, and how they are used, make all the difference in creating a photograph of meaning and expression.

— Bruce Haulman is an island historian. Terry Donnelly is an

island photographer.