“At my feet lay the Great Central Valley of California, level and flowery, like a lake of pure sunshine...And from the eastern boundary of this vast golden flower-bed rose the mighty Sierra, miles in height, and so gloriously colored and so radiant, it seemed not clothed with light but wholly composed of it, like the wall of some celestial city...Then it seemed to me that the Sierra should be called, not the Nevada or Snowy Range, but the Range of Light. And after ten years of wandering and wondering in the heart of it, rejoicing in its glorious floods of light, the white beams of the morning streaming through the passes, the noonday radiance on the crystal rocks, the flush of the alpenglow, and the irised spray of countless waterfalls, it still seems above all others the Range of Light." John Muir, The Yosemite, 1912.
I posted this quote earlier on instagram with a different picture but I wanted to also use it with this specific photograph. Kim bought me The Yosemite on our first day in the park when we went to the Ansel Adams Gallery and it was not a disappointment. I need to spend more time in this place. It is inspirational and leaves me awestruck at every turn.
This photograph really wasn't anything special. It was taken from Tunnel View—an incredibly popular spot for anyone with a camera—there are likely 50+ photos from this exact moment. The view from here is so oft photographed some consider it cliche. But long before it was cliche this view was accessible known as Artist's Point and was a source of inspiration for artists of all sorts, painters, photographers, poets, etc., in the days of the park when Muir still roamed the woods. It's a view that is so frequently photographed not because of it's accessibility but because of its power. Granite faces extending miles into the distance tower thousands of feet above the valley floor painted with trees which might easily be mistaken for grass at a moment's glance.
Our first day in the park looked a lot like this. Clouds of cotton above us cast beautiful shadows on the landscape in every direction. The same day I first read Muir describing the "Range of Light" was the same day I saw this view. When I read those words this was what came to mind and in that instant I understood completely.
Keep places like this accessible. Protect them with everything. They are finite resources.
"It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save our environment."-Ansel Adams