As the rain pounds the flat roof over my office, and the winds whip up the leaves through the trees outside, I am sitting snug and warm in front of my computer editing images – a perfect thing for a rainy day! We are celebrating the storms that are passing through northern California right now, our thirsty fields and forests drinking up as much as they can hold. It’s a great week here in Santa Rosa!
I was processing images for another project and came across this – in color, of course. But when I made the image, Ansel and all the others who have photographed from this vantage point were with me – in celebration of a grand beauty that no matter how many times I see it, takes my breath away. Yes, it’s a grand scene whenever you see it, but it begs for more drama for me, the drama of weather. So there I was, over on a ledge that few people will dare, to make this picture, excited about the rising ground mist and swirling clouds around me, and I felt what anyone that has photographed there felt – awe & wonder. And humbled by the magnificence of the scene before me. It just felt right to make this black-and-white. So today, I celebrate what Yosemite might be looking like right now, with all the rain and clouds, perhaps even snow, in the image below! Enjoy.
I used Topaz Labs’ B&W Effects to process this image. If you are interested in purchasing this plug-in, and want to save 15%, click on the affiliate link and use the code ‘brendatharp’ at checkout.
