Autumn In Yosemite

Half Dome Outlook

Yosemite National Park

 

"The magic of autumn has seized the countryside; now that the sun isn't ripening anything it shines for the sake of the golden age; for the sake of Eden; to please the moon for all I know."

~Elizabeth Coatsworth

Personal Geography: Almost An Autobiography

The head noise the last few days has been deafening. The noise from the political talking heads... has... been... deafening. Social media has been deafening. Life noise in general has been deafening! Alan and I needed a day of quiet. A day seeing new horizons. A day that was as far away from the fighting as we could get, so we picked a California destination we hadn't been to before. We chose Half Dome, in the Yosemite Valley. Not surprisingly, we weren't alone! There were many people, not really talking, they were just doing what we were doing, photographing the unbelievable natural beauty of our surroundings!

Truly, all the photos I have ever seen of Half Dome, have not done it justice, and I didn't manage to capture it's stunning beauty as accurately as I wish I could have. I guess I have lost a bit of my creative magic. I'm trying, but I am still dealing with yet one more broken heart in my life, and it's just going to take a while to find my inner happiness again. Personally, I have had my heart broken enough times that I know there is no rushing this process, the best I can hope for is that one day I will wake up, and it won't hurt anymore. It's a one day at a time process. But everything starts somewhere, and yesterday I began the healing at Half Dome!

Just quiet amazing beauty. So needed. So appreciated!

 Leaf Of The Day

November 11th 2016

Mood: Quiet

~Me :) 

Past Interpretations

"A path is a prior interpretation

 of the best way to traverse a landscape."

~Rebecca Solnit

Wanderlust: A History Of Walking

This past summer I was on a path. A path that came along suddenly, and seemed to only have one direction. When my rental cottage was ripped out from under me, it meant one thing, Alan and I would be moving on, and moving on meant one thing, it was time to buy our own place. Buying our own place meant one thing... we would be leaving the Bay Area and heading east. And that's what we did! We moved east! Well, not at first. At first we planned to move slightly southeast, but when that all changed we took out a map, and a Zillow app, and ended up in Stockton, California. Oddly enough, Stockton was where I thought we might move to, prior to the ill fated decision to move southeast. Anyway, to get to either place from the Bay Area, one must travel through the Altamont Pass.

 The pass can be one of the most tranquil drives in the area, or a bumper to bumper nightmare, depending on time of day, and the day of the week. I took this picture almost a month ago, on one of those bumper to bumper drives, which as it turns out, would be my last trip over the pass. A bit of information I didn't know at the time. But that day, as I looked at that moon shining in the sky, I felt tranquil and ready for the future, whatever that meant. I don't know why, but the sight of the moon made me feel safe somehow. I had my camera out, the moon was posing for me, and the landscape was serene. I am smiling now just thinking about it, and I know that it makes me want to try really hard later tonight when the moon goes into it's eclipse.

 After all, I will be photographing it from the comfort of my own back yard! How awesome is that? My first lunar eclipse, in my own back yard! I have all the cameras charged and loaded with batteries! I have some snacks and beverages ready. My tripods are all set up, and everything is a go! Well, except for the ridiculous end of the world theories and the possibility of some low fog out here in the San Joaquin valley. It's always something! If the end of the world doesn't get ya, there is a "possibility of fog!"

LOL.

Am I worried? Nah! I am not worried in the slightest! If the end of the world comes, then so be it! All I ask is that I am not in the shower when the trumpets blare.And as for the fog, well, who knows, maybe some fog will give the photos just the edge I am looking for! Phooey on fog and end of the drama junkies. I am happy. 

And I am home!

Leaf Of The Day

September 26th, 2015

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Looking At Photographs, Thinking About Life

"You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at a picture for a second and think of it all your life."

~Joan Miro

I took the black and white photo you see above, while riding as a passenger in the car the other day. Sometimes I take photos while I drive, but that is a rarity. Most of the time I am in the passenger seat, and I am always looking, always mindful of what is in front and to the side of me. Sometimes I only have a fraction of a second to capture a feeling. That's not easy. Moments, and feelings, are fleeting, so if something in that fraction of second reminds me of something, or makes me smile, or just brings about some sort of emotion, I tend to want to hold on to it for as long as possible. Who wouldn't?

Well, the other day, there was just something about this particular turn in the road that resonated with me on some level. Maybe it was the lighting. Maybe it was the thought that crossed my mind that there should really be a cow standing on that hillside. LOL. Maybe it was the dry grass, that in a year with normal rainfall, there would instead be plenty of green grass. Maybe it was the idea that if there had been green grass, where the brown was, then the picture would kinda look like the picture Windows used for XP.

Shrug.

Usually I know why I snap a photo when I do, but this time I am not quite sure why. I know I like the photo, but I am not sure why. I can't say. So, in an effort to look further into myself, and my reasoning, I converted the photo from color to black and white. The result? Well, I still don't know exactly why I snapped the photo, but I know I feel happier with the black and white, than with the color version. Maybe it was just the day. Rain was coming in, and the sun was waxing and waning, and a moment simply happened, and I let myself experience it. 

I am glad I did, because that moment will never come again, and clearly it was a moment that I was meant to be aware of, if even to just spend a little time reflecting on the scene.



Any thoughts? Do you like the black and white version or the color?

Tell me everything!

Mood: Reflective

~Me :)