Half Dome - Part 2

For anyone who knows Ansel Adams or who has actually seen it, Half Dome means Yosemite.  It may not be Yosemite’s only spectacular feature, but it’s a hard feature to ignore.It dominates the landscape and it is, literally, the end of the road.  If you want to go beyond it, you must do so by foot or horseback.  But if you do, you get to hike along the Merced River up to spectacular Vernal and Nevada Falls or up Tenaya Creek to a canyon as dangerous as it is remote.

In either direction, the view is spectacular!

I intended to not be captivated by Half Dome.  I knew it had to be impressive, but I told myself that there’s a lot to be impressed with at Yosemite.  I shouldn’t fixate on a single aspect of the valley, especially a tourist icon.  While I can’t say I was fixated, I was a bit surprised to have found so many images of Half Dome when I returned home.

That really shouldn’t have surprised me, because over the few days we were there it presented many faces to us, each calling to be photographed.  And I did.

Some were separated by mere minutes.Others by hours or a day.  So despite my reluctance to focus on it as a subject, it simply demanded attention.  Sometimes as the primary subject, sometimes appearing as a background figure with its tell-tale shape.

Both at Yosemite and at my desk at home more than a month later, it simply demands attention.

Looking back at my images, I realized there was only one day I didn’t photograph Half Dome.  And that was because I couldn’t see it through the snow!  On any other day we’d turn a corner or I’d glance over my shoulder and there it would be, posing, waiting for me to get my act together.Day or night.  Morning or evening.  It didn’t matter.  There was Half Dome.

It was hard to miss.