In a sense, I grew up in Yosemite. From about age 3 on, my parents took me there nearly every summer..for the first few years in Yosemite Valley, then later, up in the "High Country." As a young adult, I went there many times and even spent part of a honeymoon in the valley. I don't remember how young I was when I first became aware of the photos of Ansel Adams, the one photographer who is so closely associated with Yosemite. To this day, he is still one my great "heroes of photography." In early May of 2007, Susan and I met up with my brother and 3 other friends for a four day stay in Yosemite. It was my first visit in over 30 years. It was a wonderful four days...reacquainting myself with those wonderful sights, sounds and smells that are so deeply burned into my being. The winter of '06 and '07 saw record snowfall in the high Sierras. As a result, the waterfalls were running 25% higher than normal. It was a glorious spring.
Yosemite Falls is arguably the valley's most famous waterfall and has been photographed a gazillion times. I too made many pictures of it on this trip and felt the spray of its waters when I got close. For this picture, I was on the other side of valley wandering off the beaten path a bit when I came upon this large puddle of water that was probably gone within a week of my visit. The photographic opportunity was just too good to pass up.
I decided to go with a black and white image, probably because the photos of Ansel Adams were so much in my head on this trip (I also, of course, visited the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite Village 3-4 times). These days I find myself really drawn back to black and white photography. It was what I learned on in back in the 60's when I took up photography in college. Like going back to Yosemite after all these years, black and white photography is a strong part of my roots.
I will have more pictures from this trip in the future, both color and black and white.
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