For the past week I have been the grateful beneficiary of a Yosemite Renaissance “artist-in-residence” (artist-in-renaissance?) gig in Yosemite National Park. Here are a few brief, or so I hope, thoughts before I pack my vehicle, lock the cabin door, and head back to what passes for civilization.
I am grateful to Yosemite Renaissance and its director, Jon Bock, for giving me this opportunity. I appreciate your generosity, your belief in my work, and the chance to work uninterrupted and at my own pace for a week in the park.
I made a lot of photographs, though I almost never say too much about the results until I have a chance to work with the images over the next weeks and months. That said, the timing of this visit turned out to be fortuitous — in a season of too-warm temperatures and too-little precipitation, this week has been very cold and snowy! Yosemite in winter conditions are special — mist and flurries among peaks and spires, new snow on forest trees, colors and shapes muted by storms, all sorts of effects of light.
This morning I took a short walk near the cabin where I’ve been staying, and I thought a bit about what I got from this residency. I have come to Yosemite for decades. (My earliest memory is when I was perhaps five or six years old, and I was impressed by the boulders and rushing torrent of the Merced River behind our little El Portal motel — now long gone.) While I’ve spent lengthy periods in the backcountry, I don’t believe I have ever spent more than two or three successive days in the Valley. With this weeklong visit, the time pressure was off — I could investigate hunches, revisit locations several times, and work slowly and thoughtfully.
This led to another realization this morning. The week produced more than just one week’s worth of photography, and it connects previous experiences to future work. It fills gaps in my experience with the place and lays the groundwork for work to come.
This morning’s hike was an example. I carried camera equipment but made no photographs — the light wasn’t right. But I got to know a new area and spotted a few subjects for future photography, going so far as to consider how I might compose images there and what time of day and season might be ideal. I’ll be back.
Since I started by describing this as a “brief” note, and I’m already pushing the boundaries of “brief,” I’ll stop here, and conclude (for now!) by again expressing my thanks to Yosemite Renaissance.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.
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