Cascade Creek Falls. Yosemite National Park, California. May 16, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Color photograph of Cascade Creek Falls along Big Oak Flat Road into Yosemite Valley, California.
It is hard to imagine a more accessible waterfall than this one. The road into the Valley (the highway 120 route) passes right over this creek, and this photograph was made from the bridge. (This spot is also among my earliest memories of Yosemite, from childhood trips to the park with my parents. This waterfall, cascading down from unseen heights above, suggested to me at that early age that there was something interesting beyond the road. Turns out that this suggestion was right, and I’ve spent some decades enjoying that something. :-)
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I mentioned a bit about this in the original post, but I really enjoyed shooting this fall. It means a lot to me – again, as described above – because it was one of my very earliest experiences that told me that I wanted to “go out there” beyond the roads. That, of course, has been a major theme for me over many decades of Sierra (and other) backpacking, hiking, skiing, and photography.
Oddly, this waterfall is a subject that I have always driven past. Perhaps because it has always been there in my consciousness I took it for granted. So it was great fun to finally stop by the side of the road (yes, not exactly a “wilderness” photo ;-) and spend some time getting to know this waterfall and photographing it.
I’m no expert on Asian art, but this reminded me in some way of certain paintings from Asian cultures that feature steep rivers, rocks, and overhanging tree branches.
Dan
Nicely done. I like the repeating element in the background. Great back-story too.