Last Light of Evening

Taken from a bridge over the Merced River in 1989, 4x5 Ecktachrome and

scanned on an Epson V500 photo scanner.

 

It was a cold afternoon, and my wife and I were schleping our gear

back to the rental car. We just missed the alpenglow on the face of

Half Dome, but I'm happy we got this.

Wonderful shot of the iconic Half Dome! I like the evening lighting conditions with snow! I have never been to Yosemite in Winter.

Yosemite is an incredible place in winter. A buddy of mine and I drove up from Santa Barbara on Dec. 21, 1978 in my old Chevy station wagon. We came in through the Fresno portal at about 7:00 p.m. We hit snow at about 6,000 ft., but not much. The descent into the valley was easy. Since it was night, we slept in the wagon. The next day dawned cloudy with a light rain. I had a new Mamiya 645, shooting C-41. Got some great waterfalls as the snow started falling. Next morning dawned bright and clear. Got an amazing photograph of Half Dome with the sun rising behind it and tendrils of snow feathering the top. It is a memory that doesn't fade with time. Later that morning we began hearing what sounded like thunder, or to a Vietnam vet more like the crash of artillery. Later we say we saw that great sheets of ice had formed on the canyon walls, and as the sun was moving along the valley, it was causing the moorings to melt, sending the ice sheets crashing into the valley.