Ellis Ball
View slideshow | View all
ELLIS BALL (1890 ~ 1979)
THE ANSEL ADAMS OF ZOAR VALLEY
Ellis Ball knew every boulder and bend in the creeks of Zoar Valley, learned over a lifetime exploring and photographing its canyons, plateaus and floodplains. His first trek up Cattaraugus Creek at age 14 began a lifelong fascination with this “wild, untamed country full of adventure,” as he recalled it.
Without formal training in photography, Ellis displayed a natural talent for light and composition. He had a unique perspective on the world, having lost an eye in World War I. Ellis crossed paths in Zoar Valley with the watercolorist Charles Burchfield, both of them seeking to capture a certain light in their art. In Burchfield’s early works in Zoar Valley, the play of sunlight in March in the canyons captured his eye. Ellis sought to capture the light in Zoar from every angle, in every season, at varying times of the day.
Ellis often alarmed his loved ones by leaning precariously out over a cliff to capture a vista from just the right angle, with just the right cloud backdrop, in that fleeting moment of perfect light. It wasn’t uncommon for him to scale one of the canyon walls to photograph from a rock outcrop, or climb a tree already growing in daredevil fashion out over the canyon rim, to get that perfect shot that looks as if he must have been airborne when he took it.
These photos, taken c. 1930-1965, preserve Zoar as it looked three generations ago, and remind us to celebrate that its forest and canyons are just as wild and untamed as they were then. When you’re in Zoar, remember to look up ~ there’s a slant of light across the trees you won’t want to miss.
Julie Broyles, Director
Zoar Valley Nature Society
Thank you to Ellis’ wife Medora Ball and his niece Ruth Ball Mogle for sharing these unforgettable images of Zoar Valley with us all. Medora’s blue camera is on display in the window alongside Ellis’ cameras, just as she was alongside Ellis on countless trips through Zoar.